Have you heard of TeachersFirst from The Source for Learning? Have you checked out any of their free resources for teachers? On their website, they self-describe as “the nation’s most established online creator, compiler, and curator of free learning assets.” Let’s take a look at who they are and what they do.
What Is The Source for Learning?
Originally the Network for Instructional TV (NITV), The Source for Learning was founded by John Curtis in 1983. John Curtis’s potential was recognized by one of his teachers in the 1930s, and this teacher strove to combine education and technology to provide the best education possible for Curtis. Out of gratitude to this teacher, Curtis committed himself to supporting educators by providing quality classroom resources and professional learning. Now, the Source for Learning offers:
- Rich, reliable content—created, curated, and aggregated by professional educators
- The web’s foremost collection of K-12 learning resources
- User-centered professional learning, with topics for early childhood through high school.
Let’s take a look at some of The Source for Learning’s TeachersFirst resources that might benefit you!
TeachersFirst Edge: Safe Web 2.0 In the Classroom
TeachersFirst Edge is a fantastic page that lists hundreds of Web 2.0 tools that can be used in the classroom. But Edge takes it a step further – each tool is thoughtfully reviewed. Each review:
- Points out any safety or policy concerns for the tool.
- Offers links to management tips for each concern.
- Gives grade level recommendations.
Also, you can search by topic/category or sort them by most viewed, most recent, or alphabetical order.
Special Topics Collection
TeachersFirst Special Topic Collection offers educators collections of resources grouped by topic. Like Edge, the Special Topics Collection can be sorted by most viewed, most recent, or alphabetical order. They can also be searched by typing in a keyword and/or by subject/grade level.
OK2Ask Twitter Chat Archives
Twitter can be such a great tool for quick learning and sharing! And TeachersFirst offers an archive of Twitter Chats for educators to explore! Their Twitter Chats happen twice each month and cover a variety of topics from game-based learning and flipped classroom models to hyperdocs and so much more.
TeachersFirst Reading Treks
This one is my personal favorite! Reading Treks offers educators a Google Maps file and a PDF instructional strategy handout to go with a book. The goal is for educators to be able to provide students with “a virtual field trip of resources about a piece of literature or text using the My Maps feature of Google Maps.” You can search by keyword and also input a low and high grade level for your search.
What do you think of these resources? Have fun exploring, and don’t forget to leave us a comment to let us know what you found most helpful and/or what you used.