Blog
Free Resources for Teachers
- June 22, 2015
- Posted by: The Teachers Academy
- Category: All Blog Postings Educator Resources / News
Hey, Teachers! Summer is finally here. Those in the outside world think it’s time for teachers to relax and sit by the pool (which you definitely deserve!). At The Teacher’s Academy, we know better. This is the time to refresh your lessons, research new strategies and find great resources. As our gift to the hardest working professionals out there, The Teacher’s Academy has compiled a list of FREE resources that will definitely enhance your arsenal of lesson materials.
Do you want to catch up on education news or get pumped by listening to some motivational speakers? How about grabbing some new ideas for your old lessons or investigating what career options are available for educators? Maybe you want to plan an amazing educational field trip with a few of your students next year? Or, maybe you just want to dream about a vacation without your students! The following free resources might be just what you’ve been looking forward to all year!
If you are relaxing on a beach in Virginia or by a pool in Texas, check out some free resources the teachers at The Teacher’s Academy gathered for you!
Chill Expeditions.com
https://www.chillexpeditions.com/teacher-travel/
At Chill Expeditions.com there is a program for teachers to travel to Costa Rica, Spain, Ecuador, Galapagos and Belize at no cost (here is the catch), as long as they bring along 10 students. The company creates a specialized itinerary based on your academic goals. The Eco-classroom expedition interweaves subjects such as biology, ecology, conservation and cultural diversity into the existing curriculum. Chill Expeditions also helps with fundraising programs and travel arrangements. This company makes it possible for teachers to share incredible learning experiences with their students.
Teaching Travel.com
http://www.teachingtraveling.com/
Teachers who are not in a position to travel can use this site to read stories about teaching and traveling experiences. This site uses a question and answer format to fell more connected to the traveling teachers. There is an E-Newsletter packed with travel tips and experiences, information on travel grants and volunteering abroad. Teachers can live vicariously through these traveling teachers until they can plan their own travel adventures!
Education Book Reviews
https://www.youtube.com/user/EducationBookReviews/feed
If you are a teacher who has difficulty staying awake when trying to read a book review, this free site is for you. If you are a teacher who would never bother to read a review before you bought a book, this site is definitely for you! YouTube has collected thousands of recorded reviews for education books for teachers. Instead of reading, teachers can listen to a 1-2 minute review of a book before they buy it. Not all education books are on this site yet but, I promise you’ll be busy searching the ones they have posted.
Common Sense Media.org
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/book-reviews
Common Sense Media is an all around wonderful resource for families and educators. Their main goal is to provide “unbiased information, trusted advice and innovative tools” to help them (parents, teachers and policy makers) harness the power of media and technology as a positive force in all kids’ lives.” Technology and media is interwoven into our lives so it is important to understand the dangers of explicit material as well as the benefits of educational programs. Common Sense media also reviews movies, children’s books and provides advice on several topics like cyber bullying and social media safety. They also support Graphite.org, which is used by The Teacher’s Academy to find new, quality education websites and applications.
The Teaching Channel.org
https://www.teachingchannel.org/
If you have taken some courses with us you may have noticed a reference to The Teaching Channel.org. The teachers at The Teacher’s Academy LOVE this website. It is packed full of fantastic posted videos showing different teaching techniques, strategies for classroom management and creative lesson ideas. Several of our courses send teachers to this website to learn how real schools are coping with changes in education as well as implementing new technologies. Have fun searching different topics and collecting great information on this website!
Ted Talks
http://www.ted.com/
Ted Talks are a great way to get information about any topic, not just education. Some of the brightest scientists, mathematicians, biologists, entrepreneurs, comedians and kids have graced the Ted Talk stage to inspire millions. The Teacher’s Academy uses these talks for creating coursework but also enjoys the forum in which the information is presented. You can watch Ted Talks from anywhere and feel like you are in the audience. If you are confused or disheartened about a topic, check out Ted Talks for some enlightenment! These talks are also serve as great tools for the classroom.
Education Week’s Top School Jobs
http://www.topschooljobs.org/?intc=intst
Education Week is a fantastic digital magazine for educators. In addition to the current information provided to educators, the magazine offers valuable resources for storing resumes and applications as well as building interview skills and job-hunting.
This site lists current, vacant positions in education for schools across the nation. Easily search by position title, city or state, or key words. Administrative, business education, specialists, coaching positions are posted as well as teaching. They offer resources for interviewing and career advancement as well as a place for teachers to save their resumes and applications. Every month or so, Top School Jobs hosts a free online job fair (Top School Jobs Expo) to connect employers with teachers. Join the online Expo and explore alternate opportunities in education!
The Library of Congress
http://www.loc.gov/
The Teacher’s Academy loves this resource so much that we are currently writing a brand new course on the use and navigation of The Library of Congress for Educators. This free resource provides access to thousands of authentic historical photos, recordings, interviews, manuscripts, maps, almost any supplemental material an educator might need. If you go to the Teacher Resources section, you will find lesson plans with links to the supplemental materials within the Library of Congress. If you get lost in the library, you can even ask a librarian for help! Take advantage of this amazing resource and keep your eyes peeled for The Teacher’s Academy Library of Congress course to be released soon!
Google for Educators
https://www.google.com/edu/
Google for Education is a free, cloud-based program that teachers can use in the class to create documents, spreadsheets, presentations, collaborate and share information. Teachers can set up their student roster, assignments, grading and collaboration using Google Classroom. Gmail and Google Calendar can be used for communication and assigning due dates for projects, testing or other activities. Google Docs, Sheets and Slides are similar to the Microsoft Office Suite: Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Google Drive is where all of your shared files can be stored and retrieved by students or other teachers. Google Sites allows students and teachers to set up and launch a class web page without having to know code! Check out our Suite of Google courses: Google Docs for Educators, Google Sheets for Educators and Google Slides for Educators. These courses will give you a good idea of how the Google Suite works and you can earn 15 hours of professional development for each of our course!
CK-12 Foundation
http://interactives.ck12.org/simulations/?referrer=student&backUrl=http://www.ck12.org/student/
STEM Simulations for free! This website would be really fun to use in class! Before this website made the cut, we recruited a few young students to check out how user-friendly it was and if they could understand the concepts. They loved it! They actually began to discuss complex physics concepts with each other.
You can sign in using Facebook or create and account. Click on the picture of the concept you want to learn. Check it out!
My Cute Graphics.com
http://www.mycutegraphics.com/
Free clip art for teachers! This website contains thousands of adorable clip-art pictures that can be easily downloaded and saved to a computer for later use. Teachers can customize lesson plans and activities or use the clip art for at home activities. There are also premium clip art pictures that teachers can buy, starting around $3. But why buy when they have so many cute ones for free?
The Teacher’s Academy is a company created by teachers for teachers. We happily provide a service for many teachers who do not have access to professional development. Our service also benefits teachers who are more comfortable completing their requirements on their own, wherever and whenever it is most convenient.
We are an approved provider Pennsylvania (Act 48), Texas (CPE #902185) and ACSI for our Christian school-teachers across the country. We provide professional development hours for busy teachers in most states like Oregon, Ohio, Virginia, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Indiana, New Jersey, parts of New York, etc. Find your state page on our website to see if your department of education will accept our hours!
Everyone that works for The Teacher’s Academy are certified teachers. Our “Teacher Features” get us into the classrooms of innovative and inspiring teachers so we can share their ideas with the rest of the nation.
We hope you have as much fun checking out these sites as we did, but we really hope you have more fun relishing all that the summer-break has to offer. Have a great summer, teachers!