Menu of Options for Students

This infographic lays out some great web and mobile tools that students can use to demonstrate content knowledge in a variety of formats!

Jackpot Pinterest!

There are a number of resources for literacy, technology, etc. on Pinterest. I highly recommend joining and following "Larry Ferlazzo". He pins tons of videos and infographics that are highly engaging and can be embedded into a number of curricular areas. 

Follow Michael's board Educational Technology on Pinterest.

Follow Michael's board Education Infographics on Pinterest.

SBAC Mimic

All educators are trying to find authentic resources & assessment tools that challenge students the same way that SBAC does. Jennie Bremer (Travis Ranch) just shared this amazing free resource with me, and I thought I'd pass it along. It's called "ThinkCERCA". It operates like Google Classroom, but with lessons and assessments already built in. 

Informational Texts

Exposing students to expository texts is crucial. But, we want to find sources that are engaging, contemporary, and tied to our content. Ask students to partner or team up and discuss the curricular connections. I always suggest the following sources for high-interest and leveled texts. 
1. Newsela
2. Readworks
3. npr.org
4. PBS Newshour
4. TweenTribune

Listen, Speak, & Write!

Embed analysis, communication, collaboration, and writing into your content area, while connecting your curriculum to the real world in 10min or less! 

Here's a quick and easy idea that I recommend incorporating once a week:


1. Students listen or watch a current event podcast (or vid) related to your subject area (I recommend npr.org - Science, Music, Art, History, Math) 
2. Partners or teams are given 2-3min to discuss and connect what they heard to the content area.  
4. Teams write a quick 2-3 sentence response utilizing content specific vocabulary and/or sentence frames.
5. Share out and praise their observations!