Being a writer can be an enlightening, wonderful experience when you’re creating work that you love, but it can also be incredibly frustrating when you get writer’s block or are struggling to find inspiration. There are plenty of places on the web, however, where you can find inspiration and instruction to help you overcome your biggest obstacles or help you to see writing in a new light. Here are 100 videos just for writers, many from well-known authors offering their help and guidance.
Be sure to preview before using a video in the classroom.
Flatten Your Classroom in Meaningful Ways
Filed Under Business & Technology (All), ELA (6-12), ELA (K-5), Fine Arts (All), Foreign Language (All), Health & PE (All), Math (6-12), Math (K-5), Online Interactive, Science (6-12), Science (K-5), Social Studies (6-12), Social Studies (K-5), Special Education (All), Teacher Tools, Website | Leave a Comment
Flatten Your Classroom in Meaningful Ways
Flattening your classrooms is about introducing your students to the world in safe, meaningful ways that will enrich and augment the things that are already working in your school. Seven Steps to Flatten Your Classroom is a free ebook based on an Atomic Learning workshop developed by Vicki Davis, who has been recognized for her innovative use of the Web in the classroom.
Click Here to Download Free eBook
Save Planet Earth
Filed Under Business & Technology (All), ELA (6-12), ELA (K-5), Fine Arts (All), Foreign Language (All), Free Programs, Health & PE (All), Lesson Plans, Math (6-12), Math (K-5), Online Interactive, Science (6-12), Science (K-5), Social Studies (6-12), Social Studies (K-5), Special Education (All), Student Tools, Teacher Tools, Technology Integration, Website | Leave a Comment
Save Planet Earth
At Green Education Network, K–16 teachers, students and parents will find a comprehensive and easy-to-use aggregation of Save Planet Earth curriculum-related information, lesson plans, activities, projects, contests—and inspiration. It’s all at your fingertips using the keyword search box or the topics list on the left-hand side of the site.
Click Here to Access Free Resources
Doodle or Animate
Filed Under Business & Technology (All), ELA (6-12), ELA (K-5), Fine Arts (All), Foreign Language (All), Health & PE (All), Math (6-12), Math (K-5), Nonlinguistic Representation, Science (6-12), Science (K-5), Social Studies (6-12), Social Studies (K-5), Special Education (All), Student Tools, Teacher Tools, Technology Integration | Leave a Comment
Doodle or Animate
DoInk is a free online drawing and animation tool that runs right in your browser. You can use it to do just a quick doodle, or you can take advantage of its layer cloning and vector-based designs to create relatively advanced animations. When done with any creation, you can share it with the DoInk community, email it to a friend or embed it on a blog or social-networking profile. You can also publish anything you’ve made straight to YouTube.
Click Here to Access Free Tool
Create an Interactive Timeline
Filed Under Business & Technology (All), ELA (6-12), ELA (K-5), Fine Arts (All), Foreign Language (All), Health & PE (All), Math (6-12), Math (K-5), Online Interactive, Organization, Science (6-12), Science (K-5), Social Studies (6-12), Social Studies (K-5), Special Education (All), Student Tools, Teacher Tools, Website | Leave a Comment
Create an Interactive Timeline
Using a spreadsheet to create a timeline allows students to fill in cells to designate time periods. Text can be entered sideways to mark the events being represented. Students can enter text inside a drawing, or they can add drawings. This Web site gives step-by-step instructions on the process.
Click Here to Access Free Instructions
Help Autistic Children Understand Emotions
Filed Under Business & Technology (All), ELA (6-12), ELA (K-5), Fine Arts (All), Foreign Language (All), Health & PE (All), Math (6-12), Math (K-5), News & Updates, Online Interactive, Science (6-12), Science (K-5), Social Studies (6-12), Social Studies (K-5), Special Education (All), Student Tools, Teacher Tools, Technology Integration, Website | Leave a Comment
Help Autistic Children Understand Emotions
Need help teaching an autistic child struggling to understand emotions like excited and scared? There’s a game for that—and one that will put that child’s face, voice and favorite colors into the game. A customizable, online autism library with tools like the emotion game is one of the key offerings in VizZle, new Web-based software from Monarch Teaching Technologies. VizZle (short for “visual learning”) builds customized, autism-specific flashcards, games and other interactive exercises for children. All these personalized materials can be placed online for other VizZle users to borrow and adapt.
Click Here for More Information
Click Here for Free Download
Experience the Achievements of Nobel Laureates
Filed Under Business & Technology (All), ELA (6-12), ELA (K-5), Fine Arts (All), Foreign Language (All), Games & Templates, Health & PE (All), Math (6-12), Math (K-5), Motivation/Rewards, Science (6-12), Science (K-5), Social Studies (6-12), Social Studies (K-5), Special Education (All), Student Tools, Teacher Tools, Technology Integration, Website | Leave a Comment
Experience the Achievements of Nobel Laureates
Your students don’t have to be geniuses to understand the work of the Nobel Laureates. These games and simulations, based on Nobel Prize-awarded achievements, will teach and inspire students, particularly those aged 14–18, while they’re having fun! Students, teachers and nonprofessionals of all ages will enjoy testing and building their knowledge in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, peace and economics.
Click Here to Visit Web Site
Raise Awareness of Rules for Digital Properties
Filed Under Business & Technology (All), ELA (6-12), ELA (K-5), Fine Arts (All), Foreign Language (All), Health & PE (All), Library, Math (6-12), Math (K-5), Science (6-12), Science (K-5), Social Studies (6-12), Social Studies (K-5), Special Education (All), Website | Leave a Comment
Raise Awareness of Rules for Digital Properties
Your students interact with music, movies, software and other digital content daily. Do they understand the rules surrounding the appropriate use of these digital properties, and why these issues are relevant? The Digital Citizenship and Creative Content curriculum is a turnkey instructional program made available for free through Microsoft sponsorship. It was designed to raise awareness and foster better understanding of the rights connected with creative content. The curriculum resources offer a comprehensive set of cross-curricular classroom activities that are divided into four thematic units. Each unit consists of 4 to 6 standalone yet complementary lesson plans that provide a variety of ways to engage students in the learning experience. The program was designed for grades 8–10, but easily adapts for use in grades 6–12. It aligns with the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Standards for the 21st-Century Learner and covers subject areas that include civics, computer science, debate, fine arts, economics, government, journalism, language arts, drama and video production.
Click Here to Sign Up for Free Curriculum Units
No one does Dickens like PBS’s MASTERPIECE, which has been airing lavish, magnificently acted works by Dickens for most of the four-decade history of the series. And no one offers teachers and reading groups better resources than MASTERPIECE—all free of charge and available online. The latest resource, Teaching Dickens: A Masterpiece Guide, helps middle and high school teachers engage students in their study of Dickens—in print as well as on film. The guide provides detailed and innovative before- and after-viewing questions and activities on each of the four Dickens titles (Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Little Dorrit, and The Old Curiosity Shop airing on MASTERPIECE in 2009.
Click Here to Download Free Guide
Plus: Sign up for a chance to win a set of Dickens’ classic tales and subscribe to the MASTERPIECE e-Newsletter.
Click Here to Sign Up for Winning Opportunity
Celebrate National Poetry Month
Filed Under ELA (6-12), ELA (K-5) | Leave a Comment
Celebrate National Poetry Month
Beginning April 1, Poets.org will send one new poem to your inbox each day to celebrate National Poetry Month. The poems have been selected from new books published in the spring. To receive Poem-A-Day emails, simply enter your email address in the online form at The Academy of American Poets Web site.
Click Here to Sign Up for Daily Poem
Plus: For National Poetry Month 2009, The Academy of American Poets asks you to share lines of poetry that remain with you, along with a paragraph detailing a moment when they arose and the insight, instruction, delight or solace they provided. Send your stories to npm@poets.org. Your submission may be selected by the Academy of American Poets to appear on Poets.org during National Poetry Month, alongside other submissions from readers and writers alike.
Click Here for More Information