TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of Jan 31, 2021
Here are this week's features. Clicking the tags in the description area of each listing will present a list of other resources with this topic. | Click here to return to the Featured Sites Archive
The Sojourner Truth Project - Leslie Podell
Grades
8 to 12
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The Sojourner Truth Project explores the different versions and background behind changes in Sojourner Truth's 1851 "Aint I a Woman?" speech. The most well-known version of the speech...more
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The Sojourner Truth Project explores the different versions and background behind changes in Sojourner Truth's 1851 "Aint I a Woman?" speech. The most well-known version of the speech was modified in 1863 that misrepresents the original words and intentions of the speech. Select the link to compare the two versions that include highlighted differences. Listen to readings of the speech in a variety of videos in contemporary dialects. The videos are hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, then they may not be viewable.
tag(s): black history (112), civil rights (187), primary sources (105), womens suffrage (37)
In the Classroom
Include information from this site as part of lessons on women's rights and slavery. Create an online course using eduflow, reviewed here, to guide students through their exploration of the work of Sojourner Truth. Include additional information for students to use for comparison, guide students through their comparison of the two texts, and add videos for students to view. eduflow offers tools for in-app recordings to use for student discussions. Use Edpuzzle, reviewed here, to add comments and questions into the videos to guide student thinking and focus on important areas within the speeches. Challenge students to explore and research other examples of revisions to history and share their findings through a multimedia presentation. Examples of presentation tools include Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education, reviewed here, and Genially, reviewed here.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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The Lowdown: The Obama Years, A Retrospective Lesson Plan - PBS Learning Media
Grades
6 to 12
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Explore the achievements and setbacks of Barack Obama's presidency in this lesson that includes an interactive timeline of his eight years in office. The lesson plan includes essential...more
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Explore the achievements and setbacks of Barack Obama's presidency in this lesson that includes an interactive timeline of his eight years in office. The lesson plan includes essential questions, vocabulary, and suggestions for small group or individual instruction. Activities are correlated to Common Core Standards, or sign in using a free account to link activities to your state standards.
tag(s): 20th century (50), black history (112), presidents (117)
In the Classroom
As you explore the interactive timeline together as a class or with small groups, use a simple polling tool like SurveyPlanet, reviewed here, to assess student understanding of the different events on the timeline. Use SurveyPlanet to add each event to a poll and ask students to weigh in on their opinion on if the event was an accomplishment or a setback to the Obama administration. Use an online curation tool such as Padlet, reviewed here, to organize and share additional resources with students to enhance learning. For example, create a Padlet with columns for each year of the Obama presidency and add online articles from different resources that discuss each event. Extend learning by asking students to apply their knowledge of the Obama presidency and compare it to another president's term in office using one of the storytelling tools found at Knight Lab, reviewed here. Scroll down Knight Lab's main page to find options that include a Storyline to tell the stories behind numbers, StoryMap - maps that tell numbers, and a timeline creation tool.
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Meet the Man Who Created Black History Month - CNN Staff
Grades
5 to 12
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Meet Carter G. Woodson, a leader in African-American studies. This article tells the story of Woodson's work in bringing African-American stories into the history books after being...more
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Meet Carter G. Woodson, a leader in African-American studies. This article tells the story of Woodson's work in bringing African-American stories into the history books after being primarily neglected until the 1920s. This short article provides an introduction to Carter G. Woodson and his work in bringing the achievements of African-Americans into textbooks.
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tag(s): african american (107), biographies (95), black history (112)
In the Classroom
Include this article with other resources for student use not only during Black History Month but throughout the year as inspiration when writing biographies, studying careers, or learning about influential Americans. Take advantage of some of the free resources found at Class Tools, reviewed here, and ask students to create a Fakebook profile of Mr. Woodson or use the Turbo Timeline generator to produce a timeline of key events. Have students share their learning through a variety of digital tools. Use Site123, reviewed here, or Carrd, reviewed here, to create a webpage featuring student research and writing. Use Symbaloo Learning Paths, reviewed here, to extend learning by asking students to become the teacher. Have students create a learning path for classmates to teach them about Carter G. Woodson or other famous African-Americans. When finished, your class will have a complete library of biographies to learn from!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Mary McLeod Bethune - Learning for Justice
Grades
6 to 12
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Using an excerpt from an interview of Mary McLeod Bethune, this lesson guides students through an exploration of Bethune's life and comparisons to their life experiences. Through the...more
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Using an excerpt from an interview of Mary McLeod Bethune, this lesson guides students through an exploration of Bethune's life and comparisons to their life experiences. Through the use of the provided list of essential questions, students use critical reading skills to build knowledge and make connections. This lesson also includes additional extension activities and prompts.
tag(s): black history (112), civil rights (187), women (116)
In the Classroom
Use the provided link to import this lesson into your Google Classroom account. This lesson is part of a four-part series, use the other lessons to build your unit on black history or famous women. As you add additional resources to your lesson, enhance student learning by using Kami, reviewed here, as a collaborative discussion tool. Kami includes tools for highlighting and adding notes to online articles to facilitate peer discussions. Further enhance learning by helping students highlight important information from within articles using a word cloud creation tool like Wordsift, reviewed here. Copy and paste any text into Wordsift to highlight and enlarge frequently used words. Use this information to guide students toward significant portions of text. Ask students to use a digital annotation tool such as Image Annotator, reviewed here, to add notes, links, and additional information to images. Extend student learning by encouraging them to learn more about Mary McLeod Bethune and other feminists and then creating and sharing podcasts. One easy introduction to podcasts is through the use of Acast, reviewed here. Have students use Acast to give a "You Are There" presentation sharing events as they happened during Bethune's life, or to share their takeaways of the importance of Mary McLeod Bethune's contributions to women's rights.
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Famous African Americans - Famous African Americans.org
Grades
6 to 12
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From the little known to the very famous, these people all have something in common: they have all made significant contributions to American history. Though far from complete, the...more
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From the little known to the very famous, these people all have something in common: they have all made significant contributions to American history. Though far from complete, the list has hundreds of names (listed alphabetically by their first names) and a wealth of categories from sports, singers, actors, writers, activists, scientists, politicians, and everything in between. Every person has a picture and a biography. If that isn't enough, investigate this site's engaging blog topics like 6 Must-See Malcolm X Posters, Top 10 Most Famous Black Actors of All Time, Top 10 Richest African Americans, and plenty more.
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tag(s): african american (107), biographies (95), black history (112), cultures (125)
In the Classroom
This is an excellent site to use as part of a biography unit to match biographies to individual student interests. Allow students to choose a category. Have them read several biographies from that category, then research an African American that hasn't been included on this site. Have students use these biographies as a model to write about the person they researched. Instead of using paper and pen to write down information, ask students to use Google Docs or Microsoft Word to begin research. Using these online documents affords many benefits, including the ability to add comments, highlight information, and add links to online information. Once research is underway, suggest that students use a bookmarking tool like Raindrop.io, reviewed here, to organize information. Raindrop.io includes the ability to add notes to bookmarks, making it easy for students to label and add information for later use. As a final project and to extend student learning, ask students to create their own book using OurBoox, reviewed here, that includes images, videos, and text. Math teachers could have students figure out which category has the most people in it, or what percentage of the site is dedicated to the category they are interested in.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Celebrating Black History Month - Collection - Poetry Foundation
Grades
7 to 12
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For Black History Month, the Poetry Foundation has put together this excellent collection of poems, articles, and podcasts that will help you discover African American history and culture....more
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For Black History Month, the Poetry Foundation has put together this excellent collection of poems, articles, and podcasts that will help you discover African American history and culture. Find poems and podcasts from Langston Hughes, Nikki Giovanni, Maya Angelou, Rita Dove, Gwendolyn Brooks, and many others. Also, discover Educational Resources (by scrolling down the page) that include biographies. Scrolling down to the bottom menu find Poem Guides.
tag(s): african american (107), biographies (95), black history (112), cultures (125), podcasts (65), poetry (182)
In the Classroom
Share several poems with students and then have them create similar poet and poem podcasts. Start your own classroom collection to be shared digitally on your website. Exchange the physical whiteboard or chalkboard by creating a digital, collaborative board using a tool such as Lino, reviewed here, for the collection ideas. Enhance learning and augment classroom technology use by using a site such as podomatic, reviewed here, for students to present their poems to their classmates. Post the podcasts to your class website for students and parents to enjoy at home.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Reading Trek: Keep On! The Story of Matthew Henson Co-Discoverer of the North Pole - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 6
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TeachersFirst Reading Treks create a virtual field trip of resources about a piece of literature or text using the My Maps feature of Google Maps. This Reading Trek provides inspiration...more
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TeachersFirst Reading Treks create a virtual field trip of resources about a piece of literature or text using the My Maps feature of Google Maps. This Reading Trek provides inspiration and suggestions for using the story of Matthew Hensen and his work as an assistant to Admiral Peary and their journey to the North Pole. The Instructional Guide offers robust activities for use with students in grades K-6. Content correlates to Common Core Standards, ISTE Student Standards, and National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies. Find the entire selection of Reading Treks here.
tag(s): arctic (39), black history (112), civil rights (187), explorers (61)
In the Classroom
Take advantage of the many ideas found in this Reading Trek to teach students about cultural prejudices and exploration of the North Pole. Enhance student learning by having them research and create a Then and Now Chart/Venn Diagram to compare and contrast sea travel for merchant ships. Use an online tool such as Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram, reviewed here. Ask students to create their own digital book sharing their journey to a difficult environment using Write Reader, reviewed here, for younger students or Book Creator, reviewed here, for older students.
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Reading Trek: Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom - TeachersFirst
Grades
6 to 12
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TeachersFirst Reading Treks are a way of creating a virtual field trip of resources about a piece of literature or text using the My Maps feature of Google Maps. This ...more
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TeachersFirst Reading Treks are a way of creating a virtual field trip of resources about a piece of literature or text using the My Maps feature of Google Maps. This Trek provides activities correlated to the author's story as she participated in the Civil Rights march from Selma to Montgomery. The teaching guide includes many teaching suggestions for grades 6-12 correlated to Common Core Standards, ISTE Student Standards, and National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies. Find the entire selection of Reading Treks here.
tag(s): black history (112), civil rights (187)
In the Classroom
Take advantage of the many teaching ideas found on the PDF Instructional Guide. Engage and help students understand and discuss online content using Fiskkit, reviewed here, as a collaborative discussion platform. Enhance learning by having students create a Civil Rights timeline of the top ten to twenty events using Timeline JS, reviewed here, and annotate each event with their reasons for choosing it. Timeline JS also allows for students to annotate with music, photos, videos, and more. Use Odyssey, reviewed here, and have students to create digital stories including text, interactive maps, and other multimedia content.
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Black History Month Resources - PBS
Grades
K to 12
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Commemorate Black History Month with 20 lesson plans and resources covering a variety of topics including racial discrimination, civil rights, and discussions about race in current...more
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Commemorate Black History Month with 20 lesson plans and resources covering a variety of topics including racial discrimination, civil rights, and discussions about race in current events. Scroll through the page to view topics and grade level suggestions. Content ranges from a history of discrimination through current events such as debating race through the Trayvon Martin shooting. Some lessons also contain Common Core correlations.
tag(s): black history (112), civil rights (187), cultures (125), martin luther king (41), racism (74), video (251)
In the Classroom
Explore this site for many different lessons and resources to use during Black History Month and with lessons on racism and bias throughout the year. Use lessons found here to differentiate for students of different levels. Be sure to check out the Discrimination - fair or unfair? lesson plan that is designed specifically for students who have difficulty with verbal and written expression.
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