Archives: Resources

Youth Mental Health First Aid is a one day course designed to teach parents, family members, caregivers, teachers, school staff, and others how to help an adolescent (age … learn more

Not everyone is comfortable opening up or talking with a professional. Tiny Buddha (not a site about the religion) posts curated stories, tips, and insights from readers of … learn more

PBS has developed this lesson plan for grades 9-12. In the lesson, students examine teenage depression: what it’s all about, how it feels, and ways to deal with … learn more

Students face abuse, neglect, are attacked and hurt. Many bounce back. Others are not so lucky. This video looks at the beauty of damage. How something that was … learn more

This resource provides teenagers with tips and tools for helping themselves or a friend.

In this Psychology Today article, Carl E Pickhardt reflects on what young people have reported in counseling about those teachers who seemed to work well for them. The … learn more

Research shows that unreasonable start times lead to chronic sleep deprivation in teens. This article looks at why are schools so slow to make changes and the movement … learn more

When counseling teens, ask them how much sleep they are getting. Sleep deprivation increases the likelihood teens will suffer myriad negative consequences, including an inability to concentrate, poor … learn more

KidsHealth in the Classroom offers educators free health-related lesson plans for PreK through 12th grade. Each Teacher’s Guide includes discussion questions, classroom activities and extensions, printable handouts, and … learn more

PBS’ FRONTLINE chronicles how scientists are exploring the recesses of the brain and finding some new explanations for why adolescents behave the way they do. These discoveries could … learn more

Being a teenager is hard. Especially when hormones play their part in wreaking havoc on the teenage body and brain. In this episode, Hank explains what is happening … learn more

Michael Linsin says one of the biggest classroom management mistakes teachers make is that they take disrespectful behavior personally. Better to simply and dispassionately follow your classroom management … learn more

Collaboration is not just for students. This article looks at the benefits of collaboration for teachers as well as students. For example, working with a small group of … learn more

Similar to the idea that two or three heads are better than one, educational researchers have found that through peer instruction, students teach each other by addressing misunderstandings … learn more

This post from the San Francisco Unified School Districtlooks at a number of questions surrounding Group Collaboration. Why bother with groupwork? Is groupwork good for learning? Characteristics of … learn more

Integrated curricula, team teaching, and technology tools have built up the academic achievement and self-esteem of these rural Louisiana middle school students. An interesting video on showing students … learn more

This resource, appropriate for older high school students and adults, looks at cyberstalking and what to do if you are a victim. It looks at the difference between … learn more

Cyberbullying is a real problem that is dominating the bullying trends in schools today. This infographic can be used to as a resource by your students, and to … learn more

Bars and Melody, a rap duo consisting of 15-year-old Charlie and 13-year-old Leondre, compete on “Britain’s Got Talent”. Singing a modified version of “Hope” by Twista and Faith … learn more

This set of 5 short videos was created by students in the Video Production elective class at Palm Middle School in Los Angeles, CA. The students made a … learn more

Kids react to a bullying video and discuss the topic. Each one has a different perspective.

Danny Keefe has apraxia of speech, meaning he has a hard time getting words out clearly enough for others to understand. He also likes to wear a jacket, … learn more

Resources for kids, young adults, parents and educators. Webisodes talk about how to take a stand against bullying. Get ideas for things you can do to make the … learn more

Mackenzie Grate describes how they reset the culture in their classroom with sticky notes and brown paper bags. Highly recommended. You can print this out and pass it … learn more

The National Teachers Enhancement Network (NTEN) offers online, graduate-level science courses from a world-class public research university. NTEN was one of the first online professional development programs for … learn more

NCREST works to advance education stakeholders’ understanding of the complex and challenging work of restructuring schools. They conduct research, foster connections, and share expertise, resources, and images that … learn more

From Now On’s “The Question is the Answer” page tells you how to create a Questioning ToolKit to encourage student questioning and research. Quite good.

From Now On publishes an educational technology journal with topics, such as “After technology – What then?” looking at how the introduction of technology does not help without … learn more

SciCentral editors aggregate breaking research news from the most reputable and reliable sources. Check out Today’s Highlights on the home page or drill down into an area of … learn more

Education Week is available online. You can explore particular issues and search the archives. In an early September issue a calendar of key conferences nationwide is published by … learn more

SmartBrief highlights articles of interest to educators from across the Internet. View the latest articles on-line or subscribe to their newsletter.

Sponsored by WestED, CSTI provides a range of school improvement resources, and connects users with specialists and other educators to share school turnaround research and promising practices. Their … learn more

Education Northwest conducts nearly 200 projects annually, working with schools, districts, and communities across the country on comprehensive, research-based solutions to the challenges they face. Their blog discusses … learn more

The Best Evidence Encyclopedia (BEE) is intended to give educators and researchers fair and useful information about the strength of the evidence supporting a variety of programs available … learn more

The United States Food and Drug Administration in collaboration with NCPIE and Montgomery County, Maryland, have developed a middle school curriculum called Medicines in My Home–about safe use … learn more

National Science Teacher Association (NSTA) has a section on lesson plans on a variety of science topics for elementary, middle school, and high school students

Ben Johnson looks at how a middle school teacher can cope? Two tools: Distraction and Relationship.

MiddleWeb is all about the middle grades — with a sharp focus on teaching and learning in grades 4-8. Topics range from bullying to history lesson redesigns to … learn more

September 17 is Constitution Day and Citizenship Day (Constitution Day). This day commemorates the September 17, 1787 signing of the United States Constitution.

This video was created to inspire teachers to use technology in engaging ways to help students develop higher level thinking skills. Equally important, it serves to motivate district … learn more

Founded in 2005 by a coalition of Oregon’s largest philanthropic foundations, Chalkboard worked with partners across the state of Oregon to advocate for the revival and revision of … learn more

Brian Stecher is a senior social scientist and the associate director of RAND Education. Stecher’s thesis is that our current system of assessment is innately inadequate and counterproductive. … learn more

Teacher Policy Research (TPR) is a research partnership between the University of Virginia, Stanford University and the University at Albany to develop policies that will attract and retain … learn more

NAESP, National Association of Elementary School Principals, can be differentiated from related sites, because it includes an online bookstore and an exchange registry by areas of interest and … learn more

The American Association of School Administrators offers a wide range of resources, including sections for professional development, cultural exchange, children’s programs, and public policy resources.

EdSource contains resources and links about every topic which school administrators must tackle today–from teacher quality to school finance. EdSource is a non-profit consultancy devoted to California education. … learn more

There’s even a rubric available to asses your rubrics.

RubiStar is a example of the tools available on-line to help teachers create quality rubrics. RubiStar includes a tutorial, numerous examples, and a way of making your rubrics … learn more

Using chocolate chip cookies as an example, this fun video introduces the concept of Rubics for grading. Sorry about the grainy video quality.

The Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA), founded by the Association of Computing Machinery, provides a constantly updated list of research articles and resources of interest to Technology Planners … learn more

The National Educators’ Association, sometimes at odds with school boards, has elected to offer a variety of resources about technology as well as other topics like “Health, Safety … learn more

The Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) was enacted by Congress in 2000 to address concerns about children’s access to obscene or harmful content over the Internet. CIPA imposes … learn more

The Education and Libraries Networks Coalition (EdLiNC), formed in 1995, seeks to expand the use of educational technologies in schools and libraries by making sure that these entities … learn more

The Electronic Frontier Foundation champions user privacy, free expression, and innovation. Their goals are to ensure that rights and freedoms are enhanced and protected as the use of … learn more

The Huffington Post looks at disaster preparedness and what you can do, with a side of humor. From identifying escape routs to how you will reconnect and what … learn more

FEMA has an extensive information on disaster preparedness for kids, teens, families and educators. You can find information, games, coping resources, curriculum, and preparedness kit ideas.

Safety in the Science Classroom is comprehensive, with input from all the major scientific specialist sites. What would happen if your science lab had a fire? Are you … learn more

While specifically for parents, this video from the University of Missouri will give teachers and other adults tools they can use when helping kids deal with disasters.

Creative Commons defines the spectum of licensing possibilities between full copyright and the public domain.

The Stanford Copyright & Fair Use Center covers this issue in-depth, including fair use, what’s public domain, and resources for librarians.

Copyright (or author’s right) is a legal term used to describe the rights that creators have over their literary and artistic works. Works covered by copyright range from … learn more

Bellingham Schools can be used as a model for a Copyright and Web Publishing policy.

The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) provides acceptable formats for citing online sources. They suggest that it is always a good idea to maintain personal copies of electronic … learn more

Using images found online has become common practice. Photos, graphics, book covers, illustrations, and charts — students (and teachers) constantly use images to enhance their content on websites, … learn more

Tara Miller has created a great video aimed at middle school students. It looks at the history of copyright law, gives examples of fair use and describes “Public … learn more

Brad Templeton explores what could be the 10 biggest excuses for “appropriating” copyright material.

The U.S. Copyright Office has information on copyrights and fair use for the United States.

Some schools are working with outside technology companies to scan social media for threats against them and their students, in hopes of preventing mass shootings and student suicide. … learn more

While there are different expectations for public library Internet access, this Acceptable Use statement from the West Des Moines Public Library looks at topics like… who is responsible … learn more

Rice University’s acceptable use policy covers areas such as… use of resources, interference or impairment to the activities of others, unauthorized access, commercial activities, violation of city, state … learn more

Whether it is called digital citizenship, digital wellness or digital ethics the issues are the same; how should we act when we are online, and what should be … learn more

Webwise promotes the autonomous, effective, and safer use of the internet by young people through a sustained information and awareness strategy targeting parents, teachers, and children themselves with … learn more

This video from Bobbi Jean Gallagher covers her classroom’s Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) rules in an entertaining manner. Issues that should be covered include connecting only to … learn more

Wondering what BYOD means or if your school is ready for it? In this 8-minute Pedagogical Quickie for teachers and administrators, Marc-André Lalande presents some of the many … learn more

The National Science Education Standards (NSES) are guidelines for K-12 science education in United States schools. They were established by the National Research Council in 1996 to provide … learn more

Internet4Classrooms incorporates many links, including tutorials for the most frequent classroom applications, search tools, ed news publications.

The Annenberg Foundation has indexed a wide range of lesson plans targeted by grade levels and discipline . Arts Foreign Language Language Arts Literature Mathematics Science Social Studies … learn more

National Council for Open Education hosts hundreds of lesson plans and resource guides broken out by grade, area, and topic. You can help grow this free resource by … learn more

K–12 Education Resources and Technology Planning Discover how K‒12 technology can enable new teaching methodologies, enrich existing curricula, and help students develop the critical-thinking and technical skills they … learn more

For $40 per year per teacher, edHelper provides plans and materials for a wide variety of subjects in all grade levels, K thru 12. Back to School Lesson … learn more

Professional Development Programs At the Exploratorium, we support educators. Whether inside the museum or on the other side of the planet, in school settings or out in the … learn more

Nancy Clark has created a site to provide high school and middle school science teachers access to the materials and resources that she has collected during 37 years … learn more

The Science Spot, a set of lessons and fun things by one teacher, adds new twists to old experiments. A great place for the middle school science teachers.

Digital Content for the Classroom FCIT offers over 100,000 pieces of free digital content for non-commercial classroom use by students and teachers.

What is Fast ForWord? Fast ForWord is an evidence-based, adaptive reading and language program that delivers 1-2 years gain in 40-60 hours of use for any struggling learner. … learn more

LAT, a project at William & Mary’s College, is a place for educators interested in learning to “operationalize TPACK” (Technology, Pedagogy, and Content Knowledge) via curriculum-based learning activity … learn more

BrainBashers is a collection of brain teasers, puzzles, riddles, games and optical illusions.

As teachers quickly realize, there is not a single, one-size-fits-all solution to student engagement and learning. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a set of principles for curriculum … learn more

Dr. Gardner looks at what it takes for students to really assimilate knowledge and explains his Multiple Intelligence theory. Students are good at different things – logical thinking, … learn more

Much of today’s curriculum rests on Benjamin Bloom’s Taxonomy, a ladder with rungs for knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.

The Newseum shows the current front pages from over 500 newspapers in the U.S. and around the world.

Most newspapers, such as The New York Times, are now online. Search your local newspapers for tie ins to current class topics, everything from math (what does 3 … learn more

CBC4Kids is the site for children’s programming by the Canadian Broadcast Network.

CNN emphasizes current events with links to relevant background. An extensive video and audio archive and some interactive activities can be found under CNN’s Multimedia section header. They … learn more

Vintage Space is an example of the hundreds of great topic channels available for the viewing on YouTube. Amy Shira Teitel is a spaceflight historian, author, and all-around … learn more

In addition to channels dedicated to specific topics, YouTube allows you to assemble your own list of videos using the Search feature. Searching for “cheap stage scenery” produced … learn more

Numberphile is self described as “Videos about numbers – it’s that simple.” (I also have a bridge available for sale.) Topics include Problems with Zero, One Minus One … learn more

Next Vista For Learning provides a library of over 2,000 free videos made by and for teachers and students everywhere. They encourage anyone interested to submit short, creative … learn more