Annenberg Media (a unit of The Annenberg Foundation) advances excellent teaching in all disciplines throughout American K-12 schools. They pursue this mission by funding and broadly distributing multimedia resources for teachers to help them improve their own teaching practice and understanding of their subject. Annenberg Media uses telecommunications technologies — the Internet including broadband video streaming — as well as hard copy media to disseminate these multimedia resources, ensuring that they reach as many teachers as possible.
Programs are also intended for viewers at home and students in the classroom. Annenberg Media programs can be viewed from their video on demand archives or accessed live online with a broadband connection.
CILC (Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration) provides videoconferencing services and program content and works closely with an organization to determine how videoconferencing can enable participants to reach their goals.
CTAP (California Technology Assistance Program) provides assistance to local school districts and schools to integrate technology into teaching and learning.
PBS TeacherLine is a national program to help teachers acquire the skills they need to prepare students for a successful future. More than 130 online graduate-level courses for educators are available that span the entire curriculum: Reading/Language Arts, Mathematics, Instructional Technology, Instructional Strategies and Science.
Teacher-to-Teacher online workshops empower teachers by showing real-world examples of how scientifically based research is successfully translated into classroom practice and by providing effective ways of using data to inform instruction. The U.S. Department of Education has brought together some of the nation's most effective teachers and practitioners to host these workshops on how to make a difference in student achievement.
TICAL (Technology Information Center for Administrative Leadership) provides professional development for district and site administrators that focuses on digital school leadership and integrating technology into all facets of school administration.
CLRN (California Learning Resource Network) helps educators find standards-aligned software, video and Internet learning resources. CLRN experts identified, reviewed and organized hundreds of Electronic Learning Resources (ELRs) in a searchable database that compares key features of selected resources; Web Information Links (WILs) search or browse hundreds of free primary, secondary and reference resources; and Electronic Learning Assessment Resources (ELARs) or data management programs simplify delivery, aggregation and disaggregation of assessment data.
Doing What Works is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education to help educators identify and use effective teaching practices. Led by the Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development, most content is based on the What Works Clearinghouse which evaluates research on practices and interventions. The site includes videos of leading researchers discussing research base behind high-quality instructional practice, slideshows illustrating successful strategies for teaching English language learners (ELLs) and tools to help teachers identify their strengths and weaknesses for improving ELL instruction
Education World is a complete online resource where educators can find free lesson plans and research materials, a search engine for educational websites, original content and articles written by education experts.
Federal Resources for Educational Excellence (FREE) was created after more than 30 federal agencies formed a working group in 1997 to make hundreds of federally supported teaching and learning resources easier to find. New teaching and learning resources are added each month. Subjects include arts, educational technology, foreign languages, health, language arts, math, physical education, science, social studies and vocational education. There are also student resources in these areas, pdf brochures and more.
Internet Public Library is a global information community that provides inservice learning and volunteer opportunities for library and information science students and professionals, offers a collaborative research forum and supports and enhances library services.
National Education Technology Plan helps states and districts prepare today's students for the opportunities and challenges of tomorrow. From the U.S. Department of Education, this site includes information on the plan, how to participate, action steps and success stories.
WestEd is a nonprofit research, development and service agency that works with education and other communities to promote excellence, achieve equity and improve learning for children, youth and adults.
Annenberg Media (a unit of The Annenberg Foundation) advances excellent teaching in all disciplines throughout American K-12 schools. They pursue this mission by funding and broadly distributing multimedia resources for teachers to help them improve their own teaching practice and understanding of their subject. Annenberg Media uses telecommunications technologies — the Internet including broadband video streaming — as well as hard copy media to disseminate these multimedia resources, ensuring that they reach as many teachers as possible.
Programs are also intended for viewers at home and students in the classroom. Annenberg Media programs can be viewed from their video on demand archives or accessed live online with a broadband connection.
Cable in the Classroom (CIC) is the cable telecommunications industry's nonprofit education foundation. For more than 15 years, CIC has focused on improving teaching and learning in schools, at home and in the community through the use of new technologies and engaging content.
California School Garden Network is a collaborative effort of educational institutions and corporate partners committed to enhancing learning through the use of teaching gardens in schools and other community settings.
Gardening with children has the potential to improve academic performance, increase ecological literacy and improve dietary habits. Gardens offer dynamic, beautiful settings in which to integrate every discipline, including science, math, reading, environmental studies, nutrition and health. Such interdisciplinary approaches cultivate the talents and skills of all students while enriching the students' capacities of observation and thinking.
This site is a resource for educators who have or want to start a garden on their school campus and features lesson ideas, research to support garden-based learning, contact information for regional organizations and more.
::: D o w n l o a d s :::
Gardens for Learning was developed by a team of garden educators, nutritionists, state officials and other garden experts to provide a strong foundation for the school garden movement.
Linking State Standards to Your School Garden is a companion piece to Gardens for Learning (above) and aligns activities to the K-6 teaching standards mandated by the California State Board of Education.
Museum of Tolerance lessons and activities are designed to bridge the educational experience in the museum with the learning that takes place in the classroom and beyond. Learning objectives include the Power of Words and Images, Dynamics of Discrimination, Pursuit of Democracy and Diversity and Personal Responsibility. An educator section lets teachers share ideas and includes additional classroom resources.
Parks Online Resources for Teachers and Students (PORTS) is designed to continue the California State Parks mission and to supplement teaching academic content standards in California's public schools. PORTS uses California's K-12 High Speed Network (HSN) to deliver study units and create the perfect field trip for classrooms statewide. Study areas include tidepools, elephant seals, the California Gold Rush, paleontology and government.
PBS TeacherSource provides more than 3,000 free lesson plans and activities for pre K-12 correlated to national and local standards. Lesson plans are tied to quality PBS programming.
SCIENCE
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum commemorates the 50th anniversary of Sputnik and the beginning of the Space Age with several special presentations online and in the museum. Excerpts of the book After Sputnik: 50 Years of the Space Age are online as well as a timeline to explore key objects and events from the past 50 years of the space age.
READING
Reading Rockets offers a wealth of reading strategies, lessons and activities to help young children learn how to read and read better. Online reading resources assist parents, teachers and other educators in working with struggling readers who require additional help in reading fundamentals and comprehension skills development.
ARTS
ArtsEdge, the National Arts and Education Network, supports the placement of the arts at the center of the curriculum and advocates creative use of technology to enhance the K-12 educational experience. The site offers free, standards-based teaching materials for use in and out of the classroom as well as professional development resources, student materials and guidelines for arts-based instruction and assessment. A program of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, ArtsEdge is also a partner of Thinkfinity, the Verizon Foundation’s signature digital learning platform designed to improve educational and literacy achievement.
Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling provides resources for teachers and students to explore the literal anatomy of the digital story as well as its evolution and emergence.
Poets.org includes discussion forums for teachers to share ideas, essays about poetry, extensive Web links; curriculum units and lesson plans, poet biographies and more than 2,000 poems. The site is both an interactive professional development program and a virtual community enabling all teachers to access free poetry resources.
Poetry Everywhere Collection explores the power of language, looks at the world with a fresh sense of wonder and builds reading and writing skills. Watch video segments, drawn from the PBS Poetry Everywhere series and produced in partnership with the Poetry Foundation, that capture some of the voices of poetry, past and present.
Library of Congress is the nation's oldest federal cultural institution and the largest library in the world. Learn about the Poet Laureate, view webcasts and link to related sources.
Very Special Arts promotes artistic excellence and provides through the arts educational opportunities for children of all abilities. Educates the general public and promotes awareness of the capabilities and accomplishments of people with disabilities.
HISTORY
Digital History offers 72 inquiry-based interactive modules to provide extensive primary sources on such topics as Franklin D. Roosevelt's decision to relocate Japanese Americans during World War II; Lyndon B. Johnson's decision to escalate American involvement in the Vietnam War in 1964 and 1965; and children's perspectives on slavery, westward migration and World War II.
The site also allows students and teachers to create multimedia American history exhibitions using historical images from an extensive database.
Mintz, S. (2007). Digital History. Retrieved Nov. 29, 2007 from http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu