The introduction of the internet and the digitization of much of our lives has impacted one industry in an extremely positive way: education. Now, teachers can connect with students instantaneously and from anywhere in the world. Long gone are the days of physical worksheets and manual note-taking. Now, students can memorize digital flashcards, submit electronic papers, attend lecture classes and create amazing projects all from their devices. To keep up with this, teachers should understand and take advantage of all the great new resources out there today to really maximize the impact of their lessons. This guide will dive into several of those resources.
illustration by Hurca!
1. Glogster
Glogster is an interactive, cloud-based platform that markets itself as a tool for making live, moving posters, or "glogs," with a whole host of multimedia elements. A glog may contain pictures, text, video, links, audio and animation, combined to create a truly immersive display. When assigning a glog on a book, for example, you may ask your students to include hand-drawn images and any video depictions that help tell the story.
2. Common Sense Media
Common Sense Media offers tons of ready-made lesson plans, video guides, webinars, online lectures and writing guides for teachers to use. In addition, teachers won't have to scour through endless files to find the best content - Common Sense Media provides thousands of verified, teacher-written reviews of all of the educational tools, apps, and programs contained on the site. This is also one program that parents can use with their kids at home so the learning never stops.
3. Adobe EdEx
Adobe Education Exchange, or Adobe EdEx, gives educators access to hundreds of free courses, workshops, lectures, teaching material and a collaborative community to connect with other educators instantly, offered at every grade level. If you're looking for activities for teaching narrative writing, for example, Adobe ExEx offers writing rubrics and lesson plans to get students thinking creatively. These resources are designed by educators, for educators.
4. Scholastic News
If you're looking to introduce some current events (or historical ones) into your classes' curriculum, Scholastic News classroom magazines are a great way to get your students out of the textbook and into the real world. The magazine offers engaging, easily understandable nonfiction reading online, taken from major news sources. If you subscribe, you'll get free lesson plans for every grade level, as well as skills sheets and extra multimedia learning resources.
5. Annenberg Learner
If you want to gain skills to become a better educator yourself, develop your professional career with advanced connections or just learn more about the subject you teach, the Annenberg Learner is the perfect spot for teaching inspiration. The site offers many on demand videos created by the Annenberg Foundation on a wide variety of topics, including writing, history and mathematics.
Most of these resources offer free trials to get started or cost-friendly subscription plans. Try out one today and watch your lesson plans thrive!
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