June Instructional Resource Update # 2

Here are some more great instructional and educational resources that I have learned about in the last month that you can peruse while you are relaxing this summer!

Post-it Activity Center, For Teachers. By Teachers 
(via Sheila Erickson on Pinterest)

Students love using Post-its in class! This site has more than 1,000 activity ideas! "Find free, quick and easy ways to enhance your lesson plans. Search and sort activities by grade & ESL, subject or teaching technique."

I love this site! If you think that you want to do more post-it activities next year, think about putting post-its on a classroom "wishlist" that you send home with parents at the beginning of the year, and maybe again around the winter holidays if you run out of supplies.

The True Cost of Skipping Class (Infographic via Terri on Pinterest)
"Although a student may believe sporadically skipping a class is a harmless act, in reality it’s costing a lot of money. The True Cost of Skipping Class Infographic below shows the alarming loss of educational and monetary value when students skip class."

This infographic is about students skipping class at the college or university level, but it still might be helpful to share with high school or middle school students to show them the "after-effects" of skipping class if they don't change their ways.

No Pain, No Gain. Standardized Test Preparation (Scholastic)
With testing in May and June this year, one of the teachers at my school asked me if I knew of any good resources that she could share with her students, or use in lessons for test prep. If you have already given your standardized tests this year, you may want to bookmark these sites for next year.

In this article they "share some of the strategies and ideas that have grown out of their efforts. In this article you'll find:"

• Reading Strategies
• Math Strategies
• Format Fundamentals
• Six Ways to Ease Test Stress

Test Taking Strategies (Baker College)
This site includes"

• General Strategies
• Test Taking Strategies
• Various Exam Types
• Words to Look for

Test Taking Tips (testtakingtips.com)
This site has test-taking tips, study skills and tips, note-taking tips, strategies for reducing test anxiety, and tips for parents to help their kids. 

Test Taking Foldable
(via A Teacher's Treasure Mrs. Zrihen on Pinterest, from the Savy School Counselor Blog)

Fun activity for teaching test taking strategies and tips! This foldable was designed for the elementary level, but could be adapted to almost any level.

Real Fun
Push buttons for 31 different noises! Could be really fun to use for games in your class! I like that there are a few in Spanish too like "Ole! Ole!", "Por que no te callas", and "Por que?"

Tips for Building a Successful Online Course 

From the 2012 iNACOL/SREB National Online Teacher of the Year

I am currently getting certified to teach French, and/or Spanish for North Carolina Virtual Public Schools. I know that many other teachers are doing the same. This post has five great tips if you are going to be teaching online!

It's Time For a New Kind of High School (Education Week)
An interesting article about student engagement, drop-out rates, and re-thinking the current high school system.

GSCE Bitesize (BBC)
If you have never checked out this section of the BBC website for schools, I highly recommend it! It has a lot of great resources for world language students and teachers. For French, and for Spanish you will find listening activities with video clips and questions, reading, speaking, writing, and grammar activities for the foundation level and for higher levels. With the current economy, and budget cuts, I know that many teachers' textbook resources are out of date, so sites like this are a good alternative to textbook videos and listening activities.

BrainGym (via Rachel Lynette on Pinterest)
Six minutes of brain gym activities to wake up your students' brains! Might be good to do during testing time when students have had to sit a lot.