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"The best way to activate your classroom is for your students to make something. This might an amazing high-tech invention or it might take the form of costumes for a historical reenactment, homemade math manipulatives, a new curtain for the local auditorium, toys, a pet habitat, a messy science experiment, or a zillion other things. Best of all, you don't need expensive hardware, or to start by mastering a programming language. You can begin with found materials: buttons, bottle caps, string, clay, construction paper, broken toys, popsicle sticks, or tape (hint: Google "tapigami" or "duck tape projects"). What are you having your students "make" to help them learn English?"

A compilation (annotated) of useful resources for students learning

This page is updated regularly with new documents. "AASL continues to examine ESSA, unpack the provisions for school libraries within the ESSA, and communicate how they will impact the school library community. AASL's ongoing work with the ALA Washington Office, as well as the association's partnerships with other educational organizations, will highlight opportunities within ESSA language for school library programs. Read more about the next steps in the link below for ESSA Opportunities for School Librarians.  "

"Educators have taken many approaches to solving the problem of bullying, whether making it "uncool" to bully, meting out scary punishments, or teaching tolerance. Tolerance is certainly part of the issue, but even that starts with highlighting differences between people and suggesting that one "tolerate" the other. There is no solving the issues, but there can be improved transparency, and a new tone for how we respond -- educating in kid-friendly and authentic language, using real-world examples with updated definitions, all in pursuit of total transparency for a growing problem."

"Your friendly guide to the world of grammar, punctuation, usage, and fun developments in the English language." A good "writing" blog to follow - useful for all sorts of tips on using English.

"A good digital citizen will experience the advantages of the digital world but like a citizen of a nation, they will be identifiable, speak using the appropriate language, serve his or her duty to judge what is appropriate within the laws of the land and ethical behavior, uphold their social responsibilities and be virtuous. The internet is a little like the proverbial elephant that never forgets. Our digital footprints are not like the footprints on the beach, washed away by the next wave or rising tide. Rather they are like footprints left to dry in the wet concrete of the footpath. They are a permanent reminder of our actions, inactions and interactions. To navigate and to survive in this dynamic digital world requires some basic rules and guidelines, we call these tenets of digital citizenship."

"Social Media has been hailed as the silver bullet of grassroots marketing. Circumvent aging advertisement models and talk directly to your community? The only cost is your time? Fabulous! It can be like that, but it takes some very specific strategy to achieve that kind of success. At Transparent Language, we've built our Social Media following to nearly 3 million fans on Facebook alone. Our blogs receive over 200,000 visitors each month, and our YouTube videos have been viewed more than 2 million times. And we built most of it, not with a large team or budget, but with a single dedicated staff member. Truly grassroots. The lessons we've learned along the way can benefit our library clients, too. In this slide deck, a follow-up to Lorien Green's presentation at NELA 2014, we present our "secret sauce"."

" Regie Routman believes that sustained time for reading and writing meaningful text must be our first priority to turn students into readers, writers, and thinkers. In her latest ASCD book, Read, Write, Lead: Breakthrough Strategies for Schoolwide Literacy Success, Routman shares best practices that can lead to better engagement and achievement in reading and writing for all students, including second-language and struggling learners. One way to engage students in informational, complex text is to demonstrate close reading, also known as analytic reading.  In the following excerpt, Routman shares her thoughts on being a "reading role model" and why close reading is a necessity for students' understanding."

Spark Notes is a fantastic tool to help students through difficult assignments and essays in Literature and English classes. The notes shouldn't be a replacement for reading. Rather, use them as an aid to help you understand the concepts. If you're reading Shakespeare, for instance, Spark Notes will help you understand the language so you can better understand the story. Spark Notes can also offer study tips or break up the text into smaller pieces to help students manage their workload.

Having the "same" text written for different levels of English comprehension can be a life-saver for a multi-level class of English Language Learners or for a teacher with a mainstream class that includes some students that are facing other challenges. They can be an important tool for differentiation. Listed here are a few sources where you can get these different versions other than creating them yourself.

"The author's use of "literary nonfiction" accommodates all the definitions. It includes finely-crafted texts that tend to win awards, sell best to schools and libraries, and make ideal mentor texts. It may be narrative nonfiction, including many kinds of life stories (biographies/autobiographies/memoirs); poetry; or expository/informational books with a strong voice, innovative format and text structure, and rich, engaging language."

An expalanation about - how to add voice typing to Google Slides and made it FREE!!! John is a former math teacher and he knows how important this feature is to teachers, especially teachers of younger children. Slides Translator allows students to take text from the slide and translate it to their native language. A new hidden feature of Slides Translator is VOICE TYPING! Install Slides Translator After installing Slides Translator, go to the Add-on menu and choose "Slides translator" and then it gives you the option to use voice typing in the sidebar or as a floating toolbar. Click on the textbox you want to voice type in, click on the mic icon in Slides Translator. When you pause… it turns your voice into text. LIKE MAGIC!!!

" DET site page assist learning from home. They will continue to update this page in the coming weeks. On this page: Learning continuity contingency planning: early childhood and Learning continuity contingency planning: schools Online options Offline options Tips for remote curriculum delivery  Learning continuity contingency planning: early childhood When planning for children's learning continuity in the event of closure, early childhood education and care services may consider: identifying ways early childhood teachers and educators can initiate group or individual contact with children to maintain learning opportunities implementing activities with children by using available technologies maintaining contact with families to discuss and track the wellbeing of children and discuss the progress of children's development identifying ways educators can improve the implementation and documentation of the service's program and maintain educator practice. There are resources services can provide to support parents and carers to engage in learning activities with their children at home: Play-based learning for pre-schoolers - provides suggestions for good structured and unstructured play experiences for 3 - 5 year olds How to build literacy skills from birth to year 2 - includes tips on how to help build children's skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing How to build numeracy skills from birth to year 2 - includes tips on how to build children's skills in maths, measurement and patterns Building STEM skills for children - includes ways to engage children with STEM related experiences. Raising Children Network also has a range of learning activities for pre-schoolers. It includes tips and ideas as well as videos of drawing, writing, storytelling, counting and other activities that can be done at home. Services may also want to give parents information about talking to their children about COVID-19. For example: UNICEF's How to talk to

"These iPod-based audio broadcasts encompass a wide variety of subjects, such as entrepreneurship, politics, history, to entertaining series on serial killers. These downloadable series can be subscribed to, so you automatically get the next installment. However, podcasts can be utilized in the classroom, especially to promote literacy. By using podcasts in conjunction with their transcripts, or by finding engaging podcasts that discuss books benefit students' different learning styles. Podcasts bring together reading, writing, analysis, listening, language and many other ELA Common Core Standards (source). Here is a list of 10 podcasts that promote reading."