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"Our Courts is a web-based education project designed to teach students civics and inspire them to be active participants in our democracy. Our Courts is the vision of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who is concerned that students are not getting the information and tools they need for civic participation, and that civics teachers need better materials and support. Current resources on the site include: quality online lesson plans and links to teaching resources and each branch of government in your state. These resources, written and compiled by classroom teachers, are practical solutions to classroom needs. For students, we have interactive features like Civics in Action, and Talk to the Justice, where students can tell each other and Justice O'Connor about their opinions and their civic participation. Now Available: Our Courts Games In August 2009, Our Courts launched its first online civics games: Do I Have A Right? and Supreme Decision. In February, Our Courts released Argument Wars where players argue landmark Supreme Court cases. A growing body of research shows that games have extraordinary potential for promoting learning and civic engagement. Games also have the potential to inspire 24/7 learning for young students; in fact, a recent Pew report showed that 97% of teenager play video games! Teachers Justice O'Connor believes that education-and teachers-are the indispensable cornerstones of a successful democracy. Her vision requires that teachers be the foundation of the Our Courts project design. Teachers and curriculum specialists have guided every aspect of the Our Courts project's development. They defined learning goals, crafted hypothetical problems to captivate middle school students, ensured alignment to state standards, drafted lesson plans, and vetted game dynamics. To ease the burdens placed on teachers, we're creating games and related materials that we hope will provide quick and easy classroom activities to inspire and engage

Explains just what is seen in an "active" learning classroom.

The Technology Integration Matrix (TIM) illustrates how teachers can use technology to enhance learning for K-12 students. The TIM incorporates five interdependent characteristics of meaningful learning environments: active, collaborative, constructive, authentic, and goal directed (Jonassen, Howland, Moore, & Marra, 2003). The TIM associates five levels of technology integration (i.e., entry, adoption, adaptation, infusion, and transformation) with each of the five characteristics of meaningful learning environments. Together, the five levels of technology integration and the five characteristics of meaningful learning environments create a matrix of 25 cells.

Think back to when you learned how to ride a bike. You probably didn’t master this skill by listening to a series of riveting lectures on bike riding. Instead, you tried it out for yourself, made mistakes, fell down a few times, picked yourself back up, and tried again. When mastering an activity, there’s no…

Photovisi is a free and easy to use online tool to create photo collages. Select one of the many collage templates, add your photos and then customize by dragging items around. After the collage is finished, it's available for download and print! Students can add text labels and titles to document learning. Collages can be used for getting to know you activities. Students can create a collage of pictures that represent themselves and their interests. Use text to create an auto bio poem over the collage of pictures. Students could also create collages as a place to visually document their learning. Students could create "time capsule" collages that represent a period in history.

Learning Guides by Experts and Educators "Shmoop will make you a better lover (of literature, history, life). See many sides to the argument. Find your writing groove. Understand how lit and history are relevant today. We want to show your brain a good time. Our mission: To make learning and writing more fun and relevant for students in the digital age."

Links to sites with activities, online games, videos, etc. Good resources to add to your teaching toolbox.

The "Top 25" Websites foster the qualities of innovation, creativity, active participation, and collaboration. They are free, Web-based sites that are user friendly and encourage a community of learners to explore and discover.

Quizzes, tests, exercises and puzzles to help you learn English as a Second Language (ESL) This project of The Internet TESL Journal (iteslj.org) has thousands of contributions by many teachers.