IT Infrastructure & Management

Web Sites to Know

By Liana Loewus — March 16, 2009 4 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Selected low-cost curriculum and PD resources for teachers.

Wiki-Teacher

As the name suggests, this site is like Wikipedia for teachers, by teachers. Though supported by the Clark County School District in Nevada, anyone can contribute K-8 lesson and unit plans to the site. The lessons are then searchable by key word, grade-level standard, or a specific textbook. Want to see what a guided-reading lesson looks like? Need some advice on how to organize student folders? Check out the demonstration videos, which provide short clips of real teachers demonstrating their instructional, management, and organizational techniques. Administrators may want to consider showing the free videos to staff members for quick and easy professional development.

Teach-nology

This site boasts 28,000 free lesson plans for K-12 classrooms and a variety of tips, printable worksheets, and games for all subjects. Users can scroll through pre-made graphic organizers and rubrics to get lesson ideas or create their own using a template. There are various worksheets, such as word searches and Mad Libs, that some teachers might consider using as centers or for students who finish their work early. Teachers who pay a yearly membership fee have access to more extensive resources.

Curriki

The names of this site’s main sections “Find, Contribute, and Connect” give you a sense its offerings. Teachers can search through a collection of math, science, language arts, and social studies lesson plans and activities for students of all ages and grade levels. They can also add their own resources to share with the community by uploading files or creating lesson plans, from templates or scratch, and adding them to the site. Many of the resources are evaluated by content experts and teachers through the ‘Curriki Review System,” and given a rating of basic, good, or exemplary. Users can also create a profile, write blog entries, and keep lists of their favorite resources. Through the “Connect” option, teachers in similar subject areas, grade levels, or geographic locations can find each other and hold group discussions. Educational organizations such as CyberSmart and Cool School have partnered with the site and added to the collection of curriculum resources.

VoyagerU

VoyagerU specializes in professional development courses in reading. The programs use a mixture of group-study sessions with a trained facilitator and individual online activities and assessments. Participants keep track of their progress through an online report card that shows their remaining activities and allows them to work at their own pace. They also have access to a variety of lesson plans and activities they can take back to the classroom, such as printable, leveled reading books. The courses are research-based and applicable for all K-12 teachers who are helping students develop reading skills. Although there is a considerable fee for the resources, federal School Improvement Funds may cover the costs, and VoyagerU offers help securing funding.

Annenberg Media

Sponsored by the Annenberg Foundation, this site advertises video professional development workshops for K-12 teachers in the areas of arts, foreign language, literature, mathematics, science, and social studies. Teachers can sign up for workshops alone or in groups, and have the option of using the hours for graduate credit. Workshops are geared toward specific grade levels and include titles such as “Assessment in Math and Science: What’s the Point?,"and “Conversations in Literature.” All materials are available for free through Video on Demand and PDF files on the Web site; alternatively, participants can purchase DVDs and books. The Teacher-Talk e-mail lists allow class-takers to communicate and discuss ideas. The site also offers free educational videos that teachers can download and show to their classes.

Library of Congress—Teachers Page

This site gives teachers ways to use primary sources from the U.S. Library of Congress in their classrooms. On “The Learning Page,” teachers can find suggestions on teaching with primary sources and explore the American Memory collection, an online resource providing free access to photographs, sound recordings, and historical writings that document the American experience. The page also provides a collection of 4th through 12th grade lesson plans and activities in the areas of history, government, and literature. The lessons include opportunities for students to practice using American Memory’s primary sources. In addition, the site describes three forms of available professional development workshops: in-house workshops at the Library of Congress, distance-learning videoconference programs, and self-serve workshops for school in-service trainings. For information on the workshops, teachers should contact edoutreach@loc.gov.

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the March 16, 2009 edition of Teacher PD Sourcebook

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Reading & Literacy Webinar
The Future of the Science of Reading
Join us for a discussion on the future of the Science of Reading and how to support every student’s path to literacy.
Content provided by HMH
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
College & Workforce Readiness Webinar
From Classrooms to Careers: How Schools and Districts Can Prepare Students for a Changing Workforce
Real careers start in school. Learn how Alton High built student-centered, job-aligned pathways.
Content provided by TNTP
Student Well-Being Live Online Discussion A Seat at the Table: The Power of Emotion Regulation to Drive K-12 Academic Performance and Wellbeing
Wish you could handle emotions better? Learn practical strategies with researcher Marc Brackett and host Peter DeWitt.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

IT Infrastructure & Management This Tool Aims to Save District Leaders 1,000 Hours a Year In Vetting Ed Tech
Leaders in four states will promote an ed-tech index, developed in part by ISTE, among district leaders.
3 min read
A group of researchers studies elements impacted by artificial intelligence
Kathleen Fu for Education Week
IT Infrastructure & Management Why This District Pays Students to Repair School Devices
One district leader says there are no downsides to having students work on Chromebook repairs.
3 min read
Megan Marcum, the digital learning coach for the Bowling Green district in Kentucky, and William King, the district technology director, present a poster session on how to create a student Chromebook repair team at the ISTELive 25 + ASCD Annual Conference 25 in San Antonio on June 30, 2025.
Megan Marcum, the digital learning coach for the Bowling Green district in Kentucky, and William King, the district's technology director, explain how to set up a student Chromebook repair team at the ISTELive 25 + ASCD Annual Conference 25 in San Antonio on June 30, 2025.
Kaylee Domzalski/Education Week
IT Infrastructure & Management Schools Brace for Tariff-Related Price Increases of Chromebooks and iPads
School-issued devices in many districts need to be replaced, but rising prices could prevent those plans.
6 min read
Students in Lynne Martin's 5th grade class study math using Chromebooks at Markham Elementary School in Oakland, Calif. on Sept. 5, 2019.
Students in Lynne Martin's 5th grade class study math using Chromebooks at Markham Elementary School in Oakland, Calif. on Sept. 5, 2019.
Paul Chinn/San Francisco Chronicle via AP