596 current-events results | sort by:
return to subject listingCheckology - The News Literacy Project
Grades
5 to 12In the Classroom
Integrate these free lessons with your other activities when teaching students how to evaluate and judge online information and other news sources. Consider assigning lessons for students to complete on their own, then come together as a class to discuss the content. Add a link to a lesson on a Padlet, reviewed here, and share with students. Ask them to add comments onto the Padlet including links to additional examples of the featured topic. Ask students to compare and contrast information from two sources using a Venn Diagram. Create a Venn Diagram using resources found at Class Tools, reviewed here. Challenge students to become the reporter and enhance their learning by writing their own news article to post as a blog at Edublog, reviewed here. Ask them to include some misinformation within their blog, and then have other class members find and respond to the shared content. Extend learning by having students become the teacher and share their tips and tricks for evaluating news and creating a digital book for other students using Book Creator, reviewed here. Ask them to include videos sharing their tips, written examples of misinformation, and add their Venn diagram to demonstrate different ways facts are used in articles to mislead readers.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Media Literacy Clearinghouse - Frank W Baker
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Bookmark this site as an excellent resource for planning for and teaching about media literacy. Include information from the Clearinghouse using lessons created with Actively Learn , reviewed here. Actively Learn offers tools for creating interactive, critical thinking lessons using materials found on their site and your own while providing you feedback on student responses and learning. As you continue with lessons on media literacy, collaborate with students on how to interpret online information using Fiskkit, reviewed here. Use Fiskkit to replace paper and pencil by sharing the URL of online articles and have students highlight and comment on any areas. Use this in lessons asking students to identify false or misleading information or to highlight areas that provide facts and information to support a claim. As students become familiar with online cues for understanding media, ask them to use Free Online Screen Recorder, reviewed here, to modify classroom technology use by creating a short video tutorial of their own sharing insights and information from an online article.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Project Look Sharp - Project Look Sharp, Ithaca College
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Become acquainted with these free curriculum kits and lessons to integrate media literacy within content already taught in the classroom. As you teach lessons found on the site, incorporate technology to enhance learning and build student understanding by using Word Ahead, reviewed here, or WordSift, reviewed here, to introduce and develop vocabulary as a prereading strategy or older students can use either as they are reading. Incorporate images with annotations to help students understand "big picture" ideas using Image Annotator, reviewed here. For younger students create a Image Annotator as a class to add text, video, and more to images. Ask older students to create their own Image Annotator sharing information learned throughout your lessons. Be sure to share all of your images on your class website for students to view at any time. To transform classroom technology use and as a culminating activity, use a digital book creation tool like Book Creator, reviewed here, as an alternative assessment to quizzes or tests. Include student-created writing, Annotated images, and add videos with student commentary within each book. Be sure to provide students with your rubric to use as a guide before turning in digital books. Find many ideas for implementing rubrics for assessment along with examples and online tools at TeachersFirst Rubrics to the Rescue, reviewed here. Whether students work individually or in groups, be sure to share your new digital library related to your lesson topic with students to review and revisit at any time!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Fiskkit - John Pettus
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Use Fiskkit in your classroom to teach students critical thinking and analysis skills. Share current news articles weekly with students to evaluate and discuss. After students provide their input, share the results on your interactive whiteboard, or with a projector, to review and discuss the reactions as a group. As students evaluate articles, replace paper note cards and suggest they use an online note-taking tool similar to Webnote, reviewed here, to justify their answers on Fiskkit. Webnote allows you to add sticky notes on the computer workspace and share with others using the URL created. Challenge students to find articles they would like to discuss, save, and collaborate on using Raindrop,io, reviewed here. Raindrop.io offers you tools to bookmark and save websites, with the additional feature of allowing participants to add comments to saved information. Raindrop.io can be used for a variety of assignments in any classroom that is integrating technology as an enhancement. Instead of a written report, as students become more comfortable with evaluating online tools, ask them to use a multimedia presentation tool like Sway, reviewed here, to modify technology use and to discuss media bias and offer tips for evaluating online information.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Moment Zero - Pilot
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
There is a learning curve to using this site, be sure to take some time to explore the options on how to find different areas and information that is available. Consider choosing a couple of "tech-savvy" students to become experts on using the site. Ask them to use Free Screen Recorder Online, reviewed here, to record instructions about finding information, share these tutorials on your class website for student use. As students gather information and statistics from the site, use this as part of a larger activity as you learn about earthquakes. Create a class account for Google My Maps, reviewed here, and enhance student learning by recording earthquake activity around the world as they occur. Have students add images, videos, and vital statistics to this ongoing project.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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History Tech - Glenn Wiebe
Grades
7 to 12In the Classroom
Bookmark this site to reference throughout the school year. Use the keyword search option to find ideas for specific units or technology tools to use. Use a bookmarking tool like Wakelet, reviewed here, to collect and share information from this blog along with your other resources. As you gather lesson ideas and create your unit, use Symbaloo Learning Paths, reviewed here, to create differentiated lesson activities for your students.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Aquation - Smithsonian Science Education Center
Grades
7 to 12In the Classroom
Include this activity with any unit on the environment, water cycles, or weather. Extend this activity further to learn more about water conservation in your community. Ask students to take pictures around the school or at home showing the inefficient use of water. Use PhotoCollage, reviewed here, and have students create a collage of their images to use as a starting point for research. Ask students to enhance their learning and upload their collage to a blog and write analyzing and sharing ideas for water conversation based on their collage. Use a blog tool such as edublog, reviewed here. Use Symbaloo Learning Paths, reviewed here, to create a learning path for your students for your entire unit. Add videos, quizzes, embed this game and add all the information for students to follow. Symbaloo Learning Paths also includes options for differentiation for different interests or ability levels of your students. Ask older students to enhance their learning and create their own Learning Path to demonstrate and share learning throughout the unit.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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