NWLSD Technology in Education Wiki  This is our own wiki, created by our own teachers.  Here you will find tech tips and links to great resources to use in your classroom.  Please join this wiki and share your best ideas with your colleagues.

ASK HERE PA  Real help, real fast!  You won't believe it...but you can chat live with a librarian who will answer all your research questions, and will even display helpful websites on YOUR computer screen! 

PDE’s Standards Aligned System Portal  Here it is, the entrance point for our state's new Standards Aligned System.  Here you can access all academic standards (K-12), drill down to eligible content, and access supporting lesson plans, unit plans, technology resources, videos, assessents, and more!  This website was created using the Teacher Tools on the portal.  Check it out!

Instructify Instructify is where teachers can stock their toolboxes with practical, time-saving classroom ideas and cutting edge methods of instruction. It’s where to find useful, free technology to utilize in the classroom. And it’s a fun place to spend your planning period.  Instructify is also a verb. To Instructify means to find new ways to present the same old content. Or MacGyvering anything from software to Post-it notes into something you can teach with. It also works great as a command. As in, “Don’t just teach, Instructify!”

Discovery Education Streaming Video (Formerly United Streaming) Digital videos for use in the classroom, lesson plans, blackline masters, and other helpful resources to accompany the videos.  Includes a "Builder" tool to allow the teacher to use content on the site to build learning experiences and/or assignments.  Teachers should contact their building's tech assistant or Kathy Fiedler in order to set up a username and password.  Students also have accounts...see your building's tech assistant for information regarding usernames and logins.  Not only may they view the videos, but they may use clips and sounds in the creation of their own digital projects.

Safari Montage  Thousands of high-quality videos from publishers such as A&E, PBS, National Geographic, Schlessinger Media, and more.  Streatming video allows you to adjust the speed, create playlists of video clips, turn on closed captioning, and more. 

PBS Video Pretty much every video you've ever watched on PBS can be found in its entirety on this site.  Nova, The American Experience, Antiques Roadshow...it's all here!

Word Dynamo Vocabulary practice for every subject, K-12.  There's even practice for standardized tests.  Accounts are free.

Virtual Kindergarten Resources  From Rose Tree Media School District.  Check out the links on the left for interactives and lesson plans to engage Kindergarten students.  Also useful for students in Grades 1 and 2.

HippoCampus Multimedia lessons and course materials to support teaching in a wide variety of subject areas.  Lesson plans, videos, and other supplemental matierals including entire courses are included on the site.  You can also search for resources to provide additional support of topics covered in your class.

Teacher Tube This site is maintained by the creators of YOU TUBE, the popular video sharing site.  It includes hundreds of teacher- and student-created educational video clips that can really work to support your teaching!  All videos are searchable and most show in full-screen mode.  Want to really get tech-savvy?  Try creating your own classroom videos in digital format and upload them to the site.

Flex Books Free, customizable textbooks on most subjects taught in public schools from grades 6-12.  Whether you're looking for resources to differentiate for your students, or want to add content to a course in blackboard, this site is invaluable.

The Teacher's Corner For teachers of all grades, k-12.  Free site includes lesson plans, seasonal activities, thematic units, bulletin boards, teacher resources, printable worksheets, collaboration projects, the "book nook", and more.  Check this one out, regardless of the subject you teach!

MIT's Free Online Courseware Resources for High Schools  Resources for teaching and learning math and science (calculus and physics are well-represented here), but also contains a wealth of resources to help students write better, or to tackle world problems.  Videos, lesson plans, web links, and more are provided.

Collins Writing Method for Writing Across the Curriculum Teach students to really write without overwhelming yourself with papers to grade.  Five-Type-Writing.  Include writing in every lesson you teach, and improve not only your students' writing, but their learning as well. This site will provide you with the basic outline to get you started.  Of course, they would like to see you their products, but no purchase is necessary. 

OWL Purdue  Helps students complete written assignments using MLA format.  This is a valuable resource, even if you don't teach English.

Shmoop "Fall in love with teaching all over again."   This resource is difficult to adequately describe.  Created as a resource for students and teachers, quality information is provided about a wide range of topics in the areas of literature, the humanities, the sciences, and most recently, mathematics!, as well as including information on how to cite Schmoop content, teacher lesson plans, discussion questions, and web links.  Most content is at the High School level. 

Karpele's Manuscript Library The Karpeles Libraryis the world's largest private holding of important original manuscripts & documents.The archives include Literature, Science, Religion,History and Art. Among the treasures are .... "The original draft of the Bill of Rights of the United States", The original manuscript of " The Wedding March", Einstein's description of his " Theory of Relativity", The " Thanksgiving Proclamation" signed by George Washington, Roget's " Thesaurus", Webster's " Dictionary" and over one million more.

Worksheet Works A huge variety of FREE printable worksheets on any subject.

My Schoolhouse Interactive lessons and online worksheets on any subject, for elementary and middle-school students.  Although there are 17,000 lessons and activities on the site for paying subscribers, the site offers a solid selection of free resources as well.

Tween Tribune Daily news, especially written for students aged 8-14.  The news is presented in brief, easily readable format, with an option for students to blog about the news stories.  The purpose of this website is to create in students a desire for news and to create a daily news habit.  Teachers can set up accounts for free. 

Decide Already Free site allows groups to make decisions and come to consensus.  Great for critical thinking in any subject!

Twiducate Facebook, move over.  On this site, teachers and students can collaborate on school projects and network to find solutions to common academic issues. Very good first step for student blogging. Really really easy to set up and does not require student email accounts.  Teachers can delete any comments or posts by students but can't screen them before they go online.  Set up a class in 10 minutes with only a list of student names.

Quizlet Free site allows you to create flashcards and then share them with your friends.  This is a great "social" study tool for students.

Academic Earth Stream videos of lectures on a wide variety of topics from universities such as Yale, MIT, UCLA, Columbia, and Michigan.  These lectures are free.

Bubble Allows you (and your students) to brainstorm and to create mind maps that can be imbedded in a webpage or other document!

Wordle  Capture a selection of text, and wordle will create word "clouds", in which key vocabulary is displayed in the graphic, and most important words are displayed in larger and darker font than lesser concepts.  Want to make your words into shapes?  Then, try Image Chef.

Week in Rap All of the week's news events, presented through video clips and photographs, and set to music...a rap song, that is!

Newspaper Clip Widget Lightning fast newspaper clip generator.  You can download and print your paper immediately after creating it, or embed it in a blog or website, if you prefer.

Writing Fix: Writing about Reading: Summarizing (not plagiarizing!)  This site was recommended by Maureen Roman for a wealth of resources that will help you teach students how to take notes and to summarize nonfiction text.  Actually, if you go to the home page of Writing Fix, you'll also find another treasure trove of writing prompts and other activities that will bring writing into all areas of the curriculum.

21 Classes Blogging Site  Sign up for this free Internet tool that allows you and your students to blog on topics of your choosing.  Sites can be set to private, which means only you and your students can view comments.  In addition, the teacher can request to view postings for appropriate content before they appear on the blog.  The best part?  No student e-mail addresses are required in order participate.

Hot Chalk: Lesson Plans  Spend some time browsing these 3500 free lesson plans that have been rated on a five-star system.  Search for specific topics by keyword or click Choose Your Subject, Recent Additions, or Seasonal Lesson Plans by Date.  This site also explains how to customize your math worksheets, select worthwhile science projects, and develop a quality lesson plan. 

Rubistar  A free tool that helps teachers create quality rubrics.  Templates are provided for all types of student performances, which you can then customize to meet your needs!

Get Clippings  This site allows you (and your students) to create realistic-looking newspaper clippings!

Awesome Stories  Loads of articles, mostly nonfiction, that you can use to have students practice reading skills in content-area texts.  You will need to use our school's login and password to enter the site.

MAGPI K-20 Distance learning via the Internet 2 Commons.  Visit here to view a catalog of high-quality educational videoconferences, many of which are free to members of the educational community!  Bring experts into your classroom!

NEA's Praxis Study Guide Online tutorial will help you familiarize yourself with the test format, review sample questions, learn to relieve test anxiety, and more.  Included is advice on approaching multiple-choice questions, case studies, and writing structured responses.  You must be an NEA member to access this free resource.

Internet 4 Classrooms This site provides ONE-STOP SHOPPING for all of your classroom needs.  Quizmakers, puzzlemakers, templates for a multitude of classroom management and instructional purposes, rubric makers, graphic organizers, substitute and parent communications, and much, much more...  Make this your go-to site for everything you need on the web to support you in your daily tasks!

Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators  This site is absolutely RICH with links to helpful educator resources, no matter what subject or grade level you teach.  Visit this site!

Thinkfinity  Combines the best of educational resources (and lesson plans) on the web, including ReadWriteThink, NCTM sites, and more.  Content areas include arts integration, the humanities, mathematics, reading. language arts, and science.  You will need to register (it's free).

Teaching Research Spotlight (NEA) Explore the latest research relevant to teaching and learning!

Google Literacy Project  Site provides powerful access to books (some full-text...read them online!), videos, and groups related to literacy in all content areas. 

Teachnology Free tool includes hundreds of lesson plans in all subject areas, PLUS lesson plan generators, substitute lesson plan generators, rubrics, hall pass generators, puzzle generators, bingo card generators, award generators...well, you get the idea!  Some resources are not available unless you subscribe, but the free stuff is worth the visit.

Education Place Graphic Organizers  A plethora of graphic organizers, already in worksheet format.

Discovery's Puzzlemaker  Generate your own crossword puzzles, acrostics, letter tile puzzles, and other puzzles to match your classroom content.

Brain Gym  Physical stretches you can do right your classroom to change the pace, re-energize students, or calm pre-test jitters.

The Big 6 Skills for Information Management The Big6 approach "improves teaching and learning, reduces anxiety, and increases confidence according to educators who use the Big6 Approach for information problem-solving."  While this approach is helpful to students conducting research, it is really an invaluable learning tool that will help students be successful with any classroom assignment.  The site includes classroom resource materials and lesson plans.

E Fieldtrips Don't worry about cost or location... All you need to take a FREE field trip with your class is a computer.  At this site, your class can visit Carlsbad Caverns, Mt. McKinley, and the Florida Everglades, to name just a few choice locations.  The site offers "trip study guides" and online chats with experts.  For a full list of available field trips, click here.

Webquests/Virtual Field Trips This site offers many excellent teacher-created webquests, where students navigate through a series of websites to learn more about a topic.  There is also free software here that will allow you to create your own webquest on a topic for your class.

Zoomerang  Sign up for the free tool for educators, and make and deploy your own surveys!  Surveys can be linked in an e-mail invitation, or a link can be placed on your webpage. 

Don't forget to visit the Electronic Resources page of our school district's website in order to access Grolier Online Encyclopedia, ProQuest and EBSCO (periodicals databases), and more!

Power Library A whole load of great electronic databases such as Student Reference Center, NovelList K-8, EBSCO Animals, and more, all available from our school's computers only.  (No home access)  Be sure to try this link today!