719 current-events results | sort by:
return to subject listingThe Books That Made the Largest Impact on the World - Largest.org
Grades
9 to 12In the Classroom
Keep this list handy as a resource and reminder of books with which students should be familiar. Share this list with students then ask them to create their own list of note-worthy and important books. Replace a written list by using Padlet, reviewed here, to have students add their books to columns with different categories sorted by genre. After choosing a book that they consider to be the most important of all time, modify classroom technology use by asking students to support their argument through a multimedia presentation using Sway, reviewed here, to add text, images, and videos.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Sports Resources - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
This collection includes resources for all grades. Each review includes several classroom use ideas. These are excellent tools to use to study science, math, and more! Save (or bookmark) this list for students to use to review tough concepts. Explore the activities suggested.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
New York Fed's Educational Comic Books - Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Take advantage of these free comic books and lessons when teaching economic and financial lessons as a supplement to your current teaching materials. Instead of printing each comic for individual students, provide a link to students using Padlet, reviewed here. Create a Padlet to share all of your online resources for your unit in one place. Use these comic books as inspiration and modify student learning by asking them to use a comic creation tool like ToonyTool, reviewed here, to create single frame cartoons explaining financial concepts. Find more uses for using comics in the classroom by viewing the archive of our OK2Ask session Engage & Inspire: Comics in the Classroom reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
National Geographic 101 - National Geographic
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Take advantage of the share feature included with each video to share a link or embed videos on your class website or student computers. These videos provide a wonderful opportunity for students to explore a variety of science topics that aren't always included in the science curriculum. As students find a topic of interest on the site enhance learning by asking them to research additional information, and then use Canva, reviewed here, and to modify their technology use by creating posters or infographics sharing their findings with their peers. Include student-created posters or infographics as part of an overall presentation using a portfolio-building site like about.me, reviewed here. Use About.me for students to create a portfolio as their future self as a scientist sharing their research that includes posters, written work, cited research, and more.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Digital Civics Toolkit - MacArthur Research Network
Grades
8 to 12In the Classroom
Save yourself some time, and use these excellent free modules on this site during online safety lessons. Share this site with your school's counselor for use during digital awareness activities. Instead of using paper and pencil to record ideas during brainstorming sessions, use an online bulletin board like Padlet, reviewed here, to organize and record student responses. Padlet offers tools for participants to share links and add comments to posts. As students develop responses to prompts, replace paper and pencil and ask them to create simple web pages to share their ideas and include support for their position using a simple webpage creation tool like Jimdo, reviewed here. Add a link to each student or group's web pages onto your class website to share the variety of ideas and resources shared by the class. Enhance learning and use Acast, reviewed here, to create podcasts featuring student's sharing tips for being digitally aware and share with your school community.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
All About the Holidays - PBS Learning Media
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Bookmark this site to use as a resource for teaching material during holidays throughout the year. For each holiday use a bookmarking site such as Wakelet, reviewed here, to organize and share lesson materials, videos, and game sites for your students. Instead of worksheets or written reports, enhance student learning by asking them to create infographics sharing information about any holiday. Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here, is a very easy to use tool that includes pre-made templates. Don't keep student learning to yourself, share their knowledge through holiday podcasts for your entire school and community to hear. Spotify for Podcastors (was Anchor), reviewed here, features many kid-friendly tools to get you started with creating and sharing podcasts.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
United States Courts Educational Resources - Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts
Grades
8 to 12In the Classroom
Include these free resources and activities to use in your social studies classroom when teaching about the U.S. Constitution. Instead of asking students to take individual notes throughout your lessons, use Google documents to create shared notes. Ask students to highlight and annotate important information shared. Use Wakelet, reviewed here, to create "wakes" for students to organize information. Add websites, documents, videos, and more to any wake for students to access information in one site. As a final project, enhance student learning by challenging them to use a video explanation tool like Clipchamp, reviewed here to share the background and information learned about Supreme Court cases and decisions.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Humans of New York - Brandon Stanton
Grades
7 to 12In the Classroom
Each story included on this site is only about a paragraph long, perfect to use with reluctant readers or as a short introduction to lessons on a variety of social issues. Help students identify the key concepts found in each story by creating a word cloud using Wordsift, reviewed here. Use the keywords found in your word cloud as a starting point for students to begin researching the topic further - examples might be research into refugees, drug abuse, or childhood illness. As students become familiar with the site, use it as an example to create your own site as a class related to your curriculum. For science create a Humans of Chemistry, in social studies create a Humans of the American Revolution, or in language arts create a Humans of Shakespeare. At the beginning of the year use Humans of New York in a self identity and "getting to know you" lesson(s). In small groups or as a class analyze several of the stories and have stidents use the key concepts to create their own interview questions. Then have students interview each other or others on campus (adults included). Use a presentation tool like Sway, reviewed here, to share finished projects that include student writing, photographs or drawings, videos, and other multimedia. Use Sway for a variety of assignments in any classroom that is integrating technology as an enhancement, modification, or transformation. Have students work together to compare and contrast their findings as part of a discussion within ongoing podcasts. Spotify for Podcastors, reviewed here, is an augmentation tool offering free podcasting creation and sharing and many features for both new and experienced podcasting teams.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
DelanceyPlace.com - Richard Vague
Grades
8 to 12In the Classroom
Be sure to subscribe to the daily email for Delancy Place to stay up to date with the latest commentaries. Use this site as a terrific resource for non-fiction supplemental reading materials for students in social studies classes and as a resource for motivating student interest in the many varieties of topics included. Include a link to the site on classroom computers for student use, or include a link with other useful student resources using a bookmarking site shared with students. Raindrop.io, reviewed here, is an excellent bookmarking and sharing tool to use with older students due to it's feature that allows you to add comments. Share an article from Delancy Place with your students and add a question in the comments for students to consider during reading. After reading the article and considering your questions, have students share their answers and reflections with a video response on Gravity, reviewed here. Transform student learners into student teachers by asking them to use this site as an example to take classroom reading material and create their own video commentaries using moovly, reviewed here. Use moovly's templates and editing tools to create professional-looking video presentations to share.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Kialo Edu - Kialo, Inc
Grades
2 to 12In the Classroom
Kialo is a great resource to find debate topics to use with your students; be sure to bookmark it. Explore the topics available on the public portion of the site and share the discussions with your students. Use the information to teach students how to include relevant information when debating any topic and point out the importance of viewing information through different perspectives. When ready, create your own topic for classroom debate using the private option. For example, have students debate the importance of the use of propaganda during World War 2 or the ethics of using animals when testing products. As students research your topic, have them use Wakelet, reviewed here, to bookmark and save their research. When complete, transform learning by asking students to use an infographic creation tool like Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here, to create an infographic based on their topic.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Bad News - Cambridge Social Decision-Making Lab and DROG
Grades
5 to 12In the Classroom
This game is perfect for use as an introduction to lessons on digital citizenship, media literacy, and social media. Share the site with your students to explore on their own and encourage them to play several different times using the different options provided. Your students won't mind playing over and over; it is easy to get hooked on trying to find the best way to gain as many followers as possible! Once students become familiar with the game and the different options presented for spreading misinformation, ask them to apply their findings to online content. Have them do some online research to find sites or information using tactics such as emotion and the others featured in Bad News. As they research sites and online information, have them add links to the sites they find on a class Padlet. Padlet, reviewed here, offers an option to create columns, use this option then label a column for each badge found in the game and ask students to share a link to their sites in the appropriate column. In addition to adding a link, have students include a comment providing information on why their site belongs in the category. Instead of assessing learning with quizzes or a written report, enhance learning and transform your assessment by having students create infographics to share information learned. Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here, provides easy to use templates to create interesting and informative infographics. Extend leaning and ask students to become the teacher using Symbaloo Learning Paths, reviewed here, to create an online learning activity teaching others on how to recognize and avoid disinformation found online. Be sure to share your assessment rubric with students as part of your assignment. Find many ideas for implementing rubrics for assessment along with examples and online tools at TeachersFirst Rubrics to the Rescue, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Civic Online Reasoning - Stanford University
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Include activities from this site as part of any online safety lesson. Use these lessons at the beginning of the school year to teach students how to evaluate online information and as an assessment for the understanding of the ability to judge the credibility of information and sources. Student responses from this site are created through Google Forms, use these responses as a template to create your own Google Forms for personalized content such as local news articles or T.V. news. Instead of creating a table to compare and contrast various sources of information, replace paper and pencil by using an online tool such as Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram, reviewed here, for students to evaluate similarities and differences between news sources. Have students enhance their learning by creating an infographic using Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here, to share with their peers. Challenge students to include facts, comparisons, and images to create the infographics.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Online Teen Safety - StaySafe.org
Grades
5 to 12In the Classroom
Include the information from this site with your other resources for teaching about online safety. Instead of creating a list of links for students, share safety tips with students by replacing the list using a bookmarking tool like Padlet, reviewed here, to share all resources including videos, websites, and more in one place. Invite students to add their own resources to the Padlet as a collaborative activity on internet safety. Create quizzes using Baamboozle, reviewed here, as a formative assessment during your online safety unit. Baamboozle is a quick and easy quiz creation tool to replace paper and pencil. Divide the class into groups to research the different topics found on this site then let them create their own Baamboozle quizzes for their classmates. Instead of teaching online safety in individual lessons, consider using Symbaloo Learning Paths, reviewed here, to create a learning path including all of your lessons. Have students follow at their own pace and use tools with the Learning Paths to offer differentiation for the abilities and interests of your students. To modify learning and further challenge students, have them create their own internet safety Learning Paths for classmates to complete.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
The United States Diplomacy Center - United States Department of State
Grades
8 to 12In the Classroom
Take advantage of these free materials to immerse students in learning about current events topics through a global lens. One important component of these lessons includes the task of completing a series of formal and informal discussions on each topic. As students identify key topics and information, enhance their learning by asking them to use Lino, reviewed here, to create digital sticky notes to share among teachers and peers. Use options within Lino to color code the sticky notes to identify the group creating the note or different concepts to address throughout the simulation. Simulations also provide background information on each topic, use this information as a starting point, then have students research each topic further on their own or in groups. Share bookmarks and resources using Raindrop.io, reviewed here. In addition to sharing bookmarks, Raindrop.io includes tools for adding notes and comments for all team members to use when collaborating together. Throughout your simulation activities, use Flip, reviewed here, to modify learning and to pose essential questions discussed within the activity. Have students add video responses within Flip to share their perspective and solutions to the different problems. As a final learning activity, provide students options for sharing their conclusions and suggestions to the simulation activities through a variety of multimedia choices. Instead of a book report or PowerPoint presentation consider asking students to create a digital book using Book Creator, reviewed here, or a multimedia presentation using Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education, reviewed here. Both options offer tools for transforming students' learning to include video, images, and more to share their final conclusion and perspective on the topic included in the simulation.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Read. Inquire. Write. - University of Michigan
Grades
6 to 10In the Classroom
Instead of using paper documents, scan the included PDF or Word documents into Google Classroom or your school student/teacher platform to share and assign to students. Be sure to include mentor texts for student use. Enhance student learning by asking students to use highlighting and note-taking tools within their word document to provide documentation for their responses. Although this site includes many high-quality graphic organizers, create your own and using Diagramo, reviewed here to engage students and personalize for your classroom use. Have students use a digital portfolio tool to share their investigations. Spaces, reviewed here includes many resources for creating online portfolios and web pages. Consider sharing the activities found on this site with your peers as a model for redesigning lessons you already use in your classroom. Use Padlet, reviewed here to collaborate and share ideas, activities, and resources as you work toward incorporating inquiry lessons into your classrooms.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Engaging Congress - Indiana University
Grades
5 to 12In the Classroom
Take advantage of the free games and materials on this site to use as a supplement to your current resources for teaching history and government. Instead of written notes, strengthen learning by having students use an online tool such as Holt Interactive Graphic Organizers, reviewed here, to create diagrams, mindmaps, and other visual graphic organizers. To compare and contrast information found in different primary sources, create a Venn Diagram. As students prepare to share their findings and summarize their learning, have them modify their learning by creating infographics using Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here, to visually represent facts and information. As a final assessment for your unit using these materials, ask students to form teams to debate different sides of the issues presented. Share their debates as a podcast using Spotify for Podcasters, reviewed here. Spotify for Podcasters is a simple to use podcasting tool offering several free options for creating, hosting, and sharing podcasts. As an alternative, ask other students redefine their learning and to create multimedia presentations using Sway, reviewed here to share text, videos, images, and more.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Eagle Eye Citizen - Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
Grades
5 to 12In the Classroom
Share activities from this site to introduce civics and government lessons; be sure to point out links with additional resources included after problem-solving activities. Share a link to this site on your class website for students to use at home. Replace written notes and help students organize information using a mind mapping tool like Coggle, reviewed here. Use Coggle to create and share colorful diagrams with included text and images. As students continue through the unit, have them enhance their learning by including their diagram on a website sharing their knowledge of civics concepts or discussing the historical event studied. Webnode, reviewed here, is a free website creator offering premade templates and easy to use tools. Transform student learning at the next level and ask them to create a book for younger students to teach them about the event studied using Book Creator, reviewed here. For example, when learning about the three branches of government ask students to create a digital book explaining the functions of the three branches. Book Creator allows you to include videos, images, audio recordings, and more.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Outrider - Outrider Foundation
Grades
8 to 12In the Classroom
Include this site with your resources for teaching both of these timely topics. Collaborate with your students and extend learning by bookmarking and saving additional resources using Netboard, reviewed here. In addition to saving bookmarks, Netboard includes the option for adding notes to shared resources. Encourage students to use this feature to describe useful information found on any website. As students explore these topics, use Flip, reviewed here, to enhance learning by creating video response questions for student discussion. Encourage students to redefine their learning and problem solve solutions by creating video explainers describing the problem and proposed solutions using a video explainer tool like Google Slides, reviewed here .Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Fake It To Make It Game - Amanda Warner
Grades
7 to 12In the Classroom
More than ever, understanding the use of media to manipulate readers is a critical skill. Use this game as a supplement to lessons on verifying news sources and fact-checking. Help students discover trigger words found in fake news articles by creating lists of sensational words. Replace word lists with a word cloud creator like Wordsift, reviewed here, to help visualize the use of trigger words found in online news. Have students find fake news online to analyze for misrepresentations of facts. Instead of doing this as a pencil and paper project, ask students to transform their learning and use Image Annotator, reviewed here, to share an image of the article and add links, images, and videos to "debunk" false information. As students become more familiar with recognizing fake news, have them use a comic creation tool like ToonyTool, reviewed here, to modify their learning by creating single frame cartoons with tips for avoiding false information then share these comics on your class or school webpage.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
#ThisIs18 Around the World - New York Times
Grades
9 to 12In the Classroom
Be sure to allow some time for students to explore all of the information shared in this incredible interactive. After students have looked through this site on their own, take a deeper look together by displaying the site on your interactive whiteboard and discussing together as a class. Have student share the portions that had the deepest impact on them, compare and contrast their everyday life to those in the interactive, and define topics for further exploration. Use this site as a starting point for a biography project or unit on cultures within your school or community. One great resource for starting a biography and enhancing student learning is the Cube Creator, reviewed here. Instead of just using written notes, extend students' learning by challenging them to take audio recordings of interviews using Vocaroo, reviewed here. Use #ThisIs18 as a model to create your own interactive sharing student interviews and biographies. Sway, reviewed here, is an excellent multimedia tool to enhance learning and for publishing and sharing content. Include audio and video interviews, student writing, and more to create your storytelling project.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
Close comment form