Good websites and apps I have both learned about and used during during my time as a student
Khan Academy- Provides free educational content in the form of instructional videos and practice exercises covering different subjects including math, chemistry, physics, science, arts, humanities and many more.
ReadWriteThink- Offers a wide variety of classroom and professional development resources. These include student interactives, lesson plans, printouts, mobile apps, strategy guides,etc.
TED Ed is an education initiative from TED to help teachers, educators, and students to access and create interactive video lessons.
Teachers Pay Teachers – Free and for-purchase classroom resources created by teachers for teachers
Reading A-Z – A paid membership gains a person access to thousands of downloadable, projectable, and printable teacher materials. Gauges student reading levels and finds books of the same level
Remind.com – A safe way for teacher to text message students if they are old enough and have phones and parental permission and stay in touch with parents
Google Earth Scholastic-There are countless links and ideas for lesson plans, activities, books, and education tools for grades K-12 in Canada. Kidblog- Is a simple blogging platform appropriate for elementary and middle school students; teachers have administrative control over what gets published—and what doesn't.
Epic. Upon signing up your child will have access to over 40,000 books. It’s geared toward kids 12 and under and they can check out picture books, classic stories, educational magazines, and videos. You can try it free for 30 days. Membership starts at $7.99 per month BrainPOP- BrainPOP’s animation brings learning concepts to life for individuals or entire classrooms. Kids learn about historical events, science and even the stock market, all with the help of a plucky robot and his friends.Funbrain-Kids in preschool through Grade 8 will love Funbrain, a kids site that makes developing math, reading and literacy skills fun. Check out games like Math Baseball and Grammar Gorillas. Kids can even read books on the go.
Good sites for formative assessment- Wooclap.Kahoot and mentimeter
FlipGrid-Post a topic and your audience responds via video in 90 seconds, from anywhere, using just about any device. DuoLingo- Provides free, mini lessons to learn 23 different foreign languages. Adobe Spark- Helps you and your students create beautiful social media graphics, videos, and web stories that can be shared anywhere on the web. Seesaw- Is a digital portfolio tool that helps K-12 students document their learning journey. Students capture learning with photos and videos of their work, or by adding digital creations. Everything gets organized in one place and can be accessed with any device. Student work is easily shared with classmates, parents, or published to a class blog.
10 Tips for teachers
This semester I have come up with 10 ways to work happily as a teacher 1. Avoid the bad trap. While it’s okay to have a bad day every now and again, a bad week or bad month is unacceptable. When something unpleasant happens, look for the silver lining. 2. Bounce on and stay positive. When we spend too much time mulling over an unpopular decision or lamenting a mistake, we create a downward spiral from which recovery can be difficult. Recovering quickly from adversity moves us into more pleasant encounters. 3. Let go of grudges and jealousy. Success is a limitless commodity. Wishing we had more of it than someone else is emotionally taxing. Put happiness before grudging, and success will come before you know it. 4. Plan for the unexpected to happen Always have a back up lesson plan in case something happens like power outages or computer problems. Always have something that can be done without extra materials 5. Go with the flow. Rather than push against prevailing behavior and attitudes, turn around once in awhile. Let reality take you where it takes you. You may end up in an invigorating place. 6. Keep learning. Research shows that the brain never stops learning. Our own learning can be a huge lever for motivating the rest of the work culture. 7. Less is more. “Busyness” is the number one reason leaders give for not taking care of the most vital work in schools which is learning. this forces teachers to focus on the urgent rather than the important, if this is not the case we need to immediately change our priorities. 8. Stay in a classroom. You can be having the worst day in the world, but if you hang out with students for a few minutes, a terrible day becomes a not-so-bad day in a matter of seconds. 9. Hang out with other happy people. Although we may not have a choice about the staff we work with, we do have a choice about how much time we spend with happy vs. unhappy staff members. Happiness is contagious. Catch it and spread it like a cold! 10. Practice. Better habits and skills come with practice. Don’t try to become happy overnight. Take baby steps to build stamina. Keep track of your progress in a happiness journal.