Differentiation Differentiation Central http://differentiationcentral.com This is the place to begin for differentiation. Here you will find many resources: lesson plans, instructional strategies, assessment, learning contracts, tiered lessons and templates. I especially enjoy the large video archive of teachers is valuable for differentiation strategies that have been used by teachers in elementary, secondary and various curricular (tech classes, home arts, etc) areas. You can link to the videos from the resources page. The videos have been created by teachers and differentiation experts. The Differentiator http://www.byrdseed.com/differentiator/ A differentiating system to keep track of differentiating objectives for learners. Dare to Differentiate http://daretodifferentiate.wikispaces.com/ This is one of the best sites around for differentiation resources and tools. The Knowing the Learner Tools are very useful. They help you collect data, take inventories, find multiple intelligences and strengths. There are also many, many pdf documents that can help you to use different instructional strategies, assessments, and implement many different types of groupings. LearnersLink http://www.learnerslink.com If you look further down on the Differentiating Instruction page you will find a great number of links to everything related to differentiation. From strategies to interest inventories, environment, readiness, content, process, product, learning about the brain, contests, rubrics, L.A., math, Science, Soc. St. - very comprehensive. Though the website has links to promote the Six Thinking Hats seminars, it actually tells you how to teach the Six Hats to your students to improve academic performance throughout the teaching of critical and creative thinking skills. Bloom's Taxonomy Questioning Strategies Visual Bloom's http://visualblooms.wikispaces.com/ 
This is a Web 2.0 version on the Bloom's taxonomy showing web tools that you might have students use at each level. There is a second chart that shows hoe the web tools can travel through the different levels. Both charts are a nice idea to get you started in thinking how web tools relate to the taxonomy. Communication - Collaboration Thinkquest - SORRY, THIS IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE :( ThinkQuest is a global network and an online community of students & teachers where young people can learn, teach, discover, research and grow through collaboration. Through ThinkQuest, students can work together in teams, use the Internet to research a topic and publish their research as an educational web site for peers and classrooms around the world. There are contests and collaborations you can take part in if you wish. Teachers can manage and monitor their own students. The great benefit is the ease of global collaboration, polls, and web pages. Edmoto Social learning environment for students and teachers. Share content, homework, grades and notices. You can also connect to a global network of teachers. Blogmeister Old skool Mind Mapping Collaborative Tool Create your own mind map to share and edit with others. Sticky Notes Collaborative Communication Share documents, photos and notes with others. Twiducate Simple tool to use when collaborating with students across the globe (personally, I feel it is a bit sluggish) - Good for starting a discussion when other schools cannot access Google products (China) Voicethread Voicethread allows students to communicate in different ways. For example, one can respond to a challenging math problem with a text, photo, or video response. Teachers can show off and narrate student work. Groups can create a discussion on Voicethread. You can even invite others to take part. Endless possibilities! Wikispaces Make a webpage or wiki - invite others to join your group Weebly Really spiffy web sites - some of my students use this for NHD projects. Twiddla More sharing - this time with an interactive whiteboard. Share notes, write, draw, share pictures or other docs without setting up an account or logging in. Perfect for quick communication and file sharing access. Of course, not logging in to anything means that there is a possibility that others whom you did not invite can also access your work. Web 2.0 Cool Tools http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com/ Everything for differentiating using technology for projects/products. Presentation, Collaborative, Research, Video, Slideshow, Audio, Image Drawing, Writing, Music, Organizing, Converting, Mapping, Quiz and Poll, Graphing, Creativity, File Storage & Web Page Tools Brain Learning Brainist Here kids can find thinking, memory, strategy, concentration games, brain tests, optical illusions, riddle, puzzles, speed reading, learn a language, mind and body and trivia are all packed into this site - just watch out for the ads in the middle - most games are further down on the pages. Neuroscience for Kids http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/chgames.html Really a great resource for learning about the brain. There are many games and activities to learn more about your brain and even a few brain jokes: Why do neurons like e-mail? They like to send and receive a lot of messages. | Visual Learner National Archives Experience From one keyword, a history of photos unfolds. This is a very interesting site for students looking for links and connections to expand the depth of a project. It is a good starting point in a research project and may be an interesting change of pace even for the visual learner. Also check out Digital History http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/ BrainPop Need to introduce a concept fast? This is the best way to go! Very engaging videos with pre and post test quizzes. WatchKnow http://www.watchknowlearn.org/ This site is contains organized videos which are also rated and given age recommendations from popular video sources. Browse by category or use the search engine to find videos. Ideal for use with students trying to find videos for their projects. Ideal for use with students trying to find videos for their projects. Videos come from: teachertube http://www.teachertube.com/ youtube http://www.youtube.com/ google videos http://video.google.com/ nationalgoegraphic http://video.nationalgeographic.com/ ehow http://www.ehow.com/ howcast http://www.howcast.com/ schooltube http://www.schooltube.com/ slideboom http://www.slideboom.com/ internetarchive http://www.archive.org/ 5min http://www.5min.com/ vimeohttp://www.vimeo.com/ hulu http://www.hulu.com/ slideshare http://www.slideshare.net/ viddler http://www.viddler.com/ One hilarious and yet very interesting video I found that you may enjoy is an analysis of Julie Andrews teaching the children to sing in the "Sound of Music" by increasing complexity and in working in different modalities. It is actually on TeacherTube, but since this site combines the best of the rest it was easy to find. http://www.watchknow.org/Video.aspx?VideoID=353 Auditory Learner The Engines of Our Ingenuity You can search this site for audio podcasts that tell how culture is formed by human creativity. The podcasts are short but they really make you think. John Lienhard has been creating this series for NPR for years. I think it is very interesting for giving students insight into the way art, technology, and ideas have shaped us. Project Gutenberg: The Audio Books Project http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:The_Audio_Books_Project There are many sites to find audio books and podcasts - this is one. This site contains both Human-read and computer-generated audio books. Warning: the file sizes can be large! Personally, I prefer to scour through iTunes to find streaming audio podcasts. Kinesthetic Learner Education Place http://www.eduplace.com/activity/ Education Place is designed for young (K-12) kinesthetic learners who want to explore various subjects through games and activities. Interactives http://www.learner.org/interactives This site provides activities, strategies, and other concepts that enhance learning skills with "real world" challenges. The site is geared for grades 6-12, but it good for kinesthetic learners. Care Arts Many different art lesson plans Simulations Interactive Simulations http://phet.colorado.edu/simulations/ Simulations are always good to explore concepts - especially when they are fun - The University of Colorado at Boulder has simulations for Physics Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science, & Math. John Travoltage is simple, but clever. Nobel Prize http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/ Learn about the achievements of Nobel Prize winners through games and simulations. Learn about your brain by playing fun games like the Pavlov's Dog or the The Split Brain Experiment. There are games in each of the prize categories: Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Literature, Peace, and Economics. Great enrichment for all ages! Products Prezi Did I tell you I hate PowerPoints? Here is a presentation tool that is very fun and has more pizazz. MuseumBox No more BORING Powerpoints! I cringe at the thought of another one. Don't let your students torture you any more! Try something new - create a MuseumBox instead. The museum box helps you build an argument or description of an event, person or historical period by filling up a virtual box with various items. (text, images, video, and sound) Lots of fun! Google Sites and Google Apps http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/edu/index.html Make your own web page. It is easy to invite students or teachers to participate because no email required. The educator Google Sites/Apps version is free and allows you to create up to 50 users. There are also online apps for word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations. Lessons and more |
Teacher Resources
The following are a few of my favorite things... BTW please check out this video
If you are looking for sites for the students check out challenge web links.