Assessing Student Work with Project-Based Learning

Assessment Crisis:  The Absence of Assessment FOR Learning

Assessment for Learning

The Case for Authentic Assessment

Conflicting Paradigms in Electronic Portfolio Approaches

Creating Online Portfolios Can Help Students See 'Big Picture', Colleges Say

eInstruction

GTCO CalComp

Inside the Black Box:  Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment

Promethean:  Performance Assessment

The REFLECT Initiative

The REFLECT Initiative:  A Research Project

Rubrics and Authentic Assessment in the History Classroom

Self-and Peer-evaluation Using Rubrics

Teacher Developed Assessments

Testing, Motivation and Learning (PDF)

Blogger: A simple blogging website.

Differentiating Instruction:  Finding Manageable Ways to Meet Individual Needs:  This article describes how real teachers at the elementary and secondary levels are using strategies to differentiate curriculum.

Mapping a Route Toward Differentiated Instruction:  Carol Ann Tomlinson describes three classrooms:  one that does not differentiate, one that differentiates by some standards, and none that is fully differentiated classroom.

Rethinking How We Do School - And for Whom:  This page contains a segment of the Carol Ann Tomlinson's book The Differentiated Classroom:  Responding to the Needs of All Learners and describe three principles of effective teaching and learning that educators should know.

Reconcilable Differences?  Standards-Based Teaching and Differentiation:  In this article, Carol Ann Tomlinson explains that standards and differentiation can coexist happily.

Teaching in Mixed-ability Classrooms:  Author Mary Anne Hess describes how teachers, not just students, benefit from the experience of differentiation.

Portable Thunderbird:  This is a complete email program that allows you to transport your address book and saved messages to your thumb drive.

Bluetooth:  This technology is how mobile phones, computers, and personal digital assistants (PDAs), not to mention a broad selection of other devices, can be easily interconnected using a short-range wireless connection. Using this technology, users can have all mobile and fixed computer devices be totally coordinated.

Effective Technology Integration:  This is Classroom Connect's latest professional development program that helps teachers raise student achievement through the use of technology.  

Flickr:  A photo sharing site where users can display full-resolution images in a snazzy, graphically rich setting.

Foxit Reader:  This PDF viewer is actually faster than Adobe Reader and a much smaller file.

The Geometer's Sketchpad:  Spanning the mathematics curriculum from middle school through college, The Geometer's Sketchpad is a dynamic construction and exploration tool that adds a powerful dimension to the study of mathematics.

GoKnow, Inc.:  GoKnow is the premier provider of educational software, curriculum, and professional development for handheld computers.

ikeepBookmarks: This web-based bookmark manager allows you to upload, and keep, your bookmarks  for free. You can access them at any time, from any computer... anywhere!

Internet2 K20 Initiative:  The National Internet2 K20 initiative brings together internet2 member institutions and innovators from primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities, libraries, and museums to extend technologies, applications, middleware and content to all educational sectors as quickly and connectedly as possible.

Internet2 Network:  Led by more than 200 U.S. universities, working with industry and government, Internet2 develops and deploys advanced network applications and technologies for research and higher education, accelerating the creation of tomorrow's Internet.

Internet2 Teaching and Learning Special Group:  The mission of this group is to increase awareness of and engagement in the uses of advanced networking technologies in support of teaching and learning activities throughout the Internet2 member community. 

Kikizas:  A great selection of freeware for thumb drives for the more experienced user.

Lexia Learning:  Lexia’s award-winning software helps students ages 4 - adult acquire and improve basic reading and thinking skills, and supports teachers, parents and administrators in monitoring and guiding success at home, in the classroom and district-wide.

NovaNet:  This is a comprehensive, online courseware system that meets countless needs. From delivering thousands of hours of research and standards-based, interactive curriculum, to integrated assessment and student management.

Online Video Sharing:  YouTube, Google Video, and Yahoo Video all of these sites allow unregistered users to search uploaded videos by keyword and watch them for free (Warning:  Some may be inappropriate for students viewing).

Plato Learning:  As the leading provider of Personalized Instruction and Standards-Driven Assessment and Accountability, PLATO Learning helps sustain continuous academic improvement for K-adult learners.

Portable AbiWord:  Word processing on the go with your thumb drive.

Portable ClamWin:  This is an antivirus program that can scan a hard drive, a folder, or an individual file.

Portable Freeware Collection:  Hundreds of free downloadable software that are categorized into 14 different areas.

Portable OpenOffice:  This site includes a full office suite of applications for your thumb drive.

Power in the Palm of Your Hand:  This page provides educators with resources for effective use of the handheld computer in support of teaching and learning.  The site includes supporting websites, links to hardware and software sites, books and training handouts.  

Read 180:  This is a researched-based reading intervention program, published by Scholastic, Inc. in collaboration with Vanderbilt University.

RealPlayer:  Streaming Media on the move.  Educational institutions the world over are taking advantage of the latest communications technologies including the high bandwidth I2, 802.11 networks and now, 3g wireless networks to reach their students wherever they are located.

Shockwave and Flash Player:  Deliver the most effective experiences for rich content, applications, and communications

Study Island:  This is the leading provider of web-based state assessment preparation programs and standards based learning programs.

ThinkFree Online:  Offers a word processor, a spreadsheet, and a presentation program.  It enables you to move back and forth between ThinkFree and Microsoft Office and it works with any Web browser.

TrueCrypt:  If you encrypt your personal files on your thumb drive, they will be unreadable in the event the drive is lost or stolen.

Whyville:  This is a safe and educational website for preteens and teens that focuses on inquiry-based, learner-centered education.

YouSendIt:  A free service that makes it easier to send large files such as digital images, PowerPoint presentation and videoclips.

Free File Storage:  Yahoo's briefcase.

Free File Storage:  Znail.

Portable Firefox:  Easy to use full featured Web browser.

Streamload:  This is a mobile media service that allows students and teachers to send, store and receive files from any computer.

All Science Fair Projects:  If students are ready to choose their spring science fair projects, this site is a great place to begin.

CHIPS:  This project is designed for teachers who enjoy collaborating and sharing ideas.  Its creators are cataloguing the best examples of e-learning for children ages 5-12.

Digital Stories:  The Global Classroom:  The goal of this project is to improve literacy and build understanding of others.

Do Something - Young People Changing Our World:  This site presents monthly challenges in community building, health, and the environment.

Drink It Up?:  This project asks students to research the contents of their local drinking water.

Feeding America:  The Historic American Cookbook Project:  Contains digitized versions of some of the American Cookbooks in this large archival collection spanning the years of 1798 to 1922.

George, the Geometric Giant:  Using camcorders and digital cameras, this project asks students in grades 3-10 to capture areas in their community that inspire mathematical thought.

Go North:  The goal of this project is to bring and environmental and social awareness to students as well as document important political, social, and ecological issues occurring in the Arctic.

Historical Treasure Chests:  After viewing online diaries, photographs, maps, and other artifacts, students are asked to formulate hypotheses about the time period during which each item was made.

Holidays Around the World:  This project asks students to discuss their favorite celebrations.  Each participant fill out a template and writes an essay about a particular holiday's significance.  Students can also insert photos or drawings of their families' celebrations.  A list of helpful online resources is provided.

Jason Expedition:  Disappearing Wetlands:  Our wetlands are in danger.  This project, developed by the Jason Academy, investigates why these important lands are disappearing and what can be done to halt the decline.

Journey North:  This project focuses on seasons and the changes that occur throughout the year.

Lunar Outpost Design Challenge:  The NASA Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD) challenges students to design an outpost that supports living and working on the moon.  The facilities should support precision landing ability, dust exclusion, radiation shielding, and protect the explorers and the moon from contamination.

Movie in the Making:  Students imagine how they would cast and direct a book of their choice.  Then they break the story down into its central components.  Students will create a screenplay or movie poster to submit to the site's Student Gallery.

Platitudes with Attitudes:  This project asks students to research the history of odd local sayings.

Poetry Wars:  The creators of this project want teachers and students "to read poetry and share interpretations, to make personal connections with literature and with people afar, to appreciate others' viewpoints, as well as increase the quantity and quality of our writing."

Rainforest Connection:  Every January, Jackie and Gregory Willis trek off to Panama to monitor the mammals that live in the rainforest.

Recipe Source:  Kids:  Home to the Searchable Online Archive of Recipes:  Students can browse recipes by region of the world such as Africa and the Middle East, or by type of dish.  Click on "Submit a Recipe" and have students share their favorite family dishes.

Resource Price Project:  The Costs of Energy:  In this project, students take a close look at their home energy bill and the amount of energy used in various regions of the country.

RoadKill Project 2006:  The RoadKill project started 14 years ago as part of a National Science Foundation teacher enhancement grant called EnviroNet, awarded to Simmons College in Boston. Brewster Bartlett, also known as Dr.Splatt, began the idea of monitoring dead animals along the roadway as he traveled back and forth from his school. He thought it would make a good project for students to not only learn the different kinds of animals that are found along the roadways but also to keep in touch with each other via the Internet.

The Student Operated Press:  Give aspiring journalists a chance to see their work published!  Contributions are accepted on a variety of topics such as education, science, technlogy, entertainment, and politics.

Surfaquarium's Digital Community of Authors:  Designed to stimulate multiple intelligences, this ongoing project offers a place for student writers to publish their work.

The Wonders of the United States of America:  This project involves students identifying six unique "wonders" (a place that inspires awe or admiration) in their state.  The categories are natural, modern, historical, economic, timeline, and biographical wonders.  Students conduct research and explain their choices via a written report.

Woodland Network:  This Swedish Web site offers three online projects, all promoting environmental awareness of woodland areas.

World Time Tracker's Project:  This project asks students to compile data on how long they spend doing typical daily activities.  Then they graph the data and share it with other classes by posting it online via the project's website.

Mastering Kisdpiration & Inspiration:  Visual learning tools that are used to develop graphic organizers or concept maps  

Graphic Organizers:  Graphic organizers you can print and some are interactive allowing you to customize the organizer for your class.

Region 15 Graphic Organizers:  Lots of organizers you can print.

The following articles take a closer look at the issue of homework.

Avoiding the Homework Meltdown!

The Great Homework Monster

Help! Homework is Wrecking My Home Life

Homework!

The Homework Ate My  Family

Homework:  How Much Is Too Much?

Homework Research and Policy:  A Review of the Literature

Homework Tips for Parents

Too Much Homework

CyberSmart:  This site has a free to educators K-8 Curriculum on how to be safe and act responsibly on the Internet.  It also provides a guide for social networking sites.

i-SAFE America, Inc.:  This site has developed a curriculum-based approach to teaching Internet Safety.

Web Wise Kids:  This site will inform parents and adults about the dangers on the Internet and what can be done to prevent them.

Wired Kids, Inc.:  Provides online safety games and information for everyone on topics from Cyber bullying to reporting cyber crimes.

Harker School's Laptop Program

Integrating Laptops Into Multiple Subject Areas

Laptops and Learning Resources

Learning with Laptops

Making the Most of Laptops

Oregon Episcopal School's Laptop Program

Rye Country Day School's Laptop Program

Urban School's Laptop Program

Active Learning Practices:  Look at how experienced teachers create assignments and assess final projects.

Bill of Rights Institute Lesson Plans:  This is a nonprofit organization founded to teach high school students and teachers about the Bill of Rights.

Boggle's World:  This site has first-rate resources for ESL and EFL teachers.

Brewer Technology and Learning Center:  The links at this site are specifically selected to make the job of locating discipline specific online resources easier and quicker for busy K-12 students and teachers.

Cable in the Classroom Online:  An outstanding collection of resources.

Children's Theatre:  This site contains a wealth of creative drama materials such as lesson plans, monologues, evaluation guidelines, and classroom plays.

Center for Media Literacy:  For more than 20 years the Center for Media Literacy has provided materials to help children and adults navigate the global media culture.

Constitution Center Lesson Plans:  The National Constitution Center created this section to help teachers teach the Constitution and other civic-related topics to students of all ages. These lesson plans meet the Center for Civic Education’s National Standards for Civics and Government and offer elementary grades K-4, middle grades 5-8, and high school grades 9-12 teachers a selection of classroom activities, readings and Web resources. Each month this page will feature a new lesson plan highlighting recent Constitutional issues as well as historical events such as the Constitutional Convention.

Construction and Trade Lesson Plans:  The Vocational Information Center has assembled this excellent collection of lesson plans related to carpentry, construction, and a number of other trades.

Counseling and Guidance Lesson Plans:  From the Florida Department of Education, provides meaningful units on topics such as Self-Management for Lifelong Learning; Career and Educational Awareness, Self-Knowledge, and Self-Acceptance.

Dick Blick Lesson Plans:  Fifty excellent art lesson plans.

Drama Teacher's Resource Room:  This site provides 14 intriguing lesson plans for theater arts education.

EarthComm Curriculum:  This site offers an excellent geology curriculum created by the American Geological Institute with additional funding from the National Science Foundation.

Encouraging Mathematical Thinking:  Visit this site for videos, teacher reflections, intervention strategies, technology connections, and much more!

ePals:  Register your class for this filtered email site.

Everything ESL:  Content based ESL lesson plans for beginning through intermediate students.

Excite:  Excellence in Curriculum Integration through Teaching Epidemiology contains teaching materials developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

High School Journalism:  This site is a project of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, designed as a resource for students, teachers, advisers, and guidance counselors who participate in the production of high school publications.

Hughes Center for Teaching and Technology:  The High School for Teaching and Technology takes seriously its unique mission "to encourage and support young people,  to pursue careers in the field of education and to prepare them for the role technology will play in the schools of the future.

Ide@s:  Features online resources chosen by Wisconsin educators.  The sites were selected based on ease of access, ease of navigation, reliability of content, and relevance for the reader.  

Illinois State Museum Lesson Plans:  This site hosts a collection of over 100 lesson plans in the subjects of art, botany, computer technology, geography, geology, history, language arts, natural sciences, social sciences, and zoology.

Illuminations:  A joint project of Marco Polo and the NCTM, it presents more than 500 comprehensive lesson plans.

Incredible @rtDepartment:  High School lessons offer directions for making raffia coil baskets, metal jewelry, woodcuts, tessellations, and embossed prints.  

In2Edu:  This site has over 5,000 education links organized by subject.

It's A Wild Ride: An interdisciplinary, technology-based roller coaster design project that is a surefire motivator.

The Knowledge Loom:  This interactive collection of "best practices in teaching  and learning" is a place for educators to share information.

KQED Lessons Plans:  The San Francisco's public television station has developed lesson plans to accompany many of their original programs that deal with the issues of multiculturalism and diverisity.

Learners Together:  A monthly ezine featuring articles about current research and trends in education and technology.

LETS Net:  The goal of this site is to provide teachers with a model for integrating Internet sources into the classroom with outstanding web-based units.

Make These Designs:  A lesson plans that taps into the power of graphing calculators to explore the concept of slope.

MPBN:  The lessons provided by Maine Public Broadcasting Network are in pdf format and are organized by grade as well as subjects.

Math Central:  An impressive collection of math lessons, links, activities, and articles created by the staff at the University of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Marco Polo:  Technology integration lesson based on national standards.

Mission:Critical:  Interactive tutorial designed to develop critical thinking skills.

Mr. Donn:  Free lesson plans and activities for K-12 teachers and students.

Money Instructor:  This is an incredible teaching tool!

NASA: JSC Learning Technologies Project:  Explore this series of Internet tools from the Johnson Space Center.

NEA 2006:  The National Education Association offers a new collection of lessons, classroom management resources, and articles on first-hand teaching experiences.

National Association for Music Education Lessons:  Choral lesson plans, band lessons, ideas for bulletin boards, links to military bands, and flag etiquette.

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics: E-Examples:  We live in a mathematical world. Whenever we decide on a purchase, choose an insurance or health plan, or use a spreadsheet, we rely on mathematical understanding, this site provides many activities to help make Mathematical thinking relevant. 

National Library of Virtual Manipulatives:  More than 100 activities, lesson plans, and assessment methods.

NewsHour Extra:  This website has an outstanding collection of multidisciplinary lesson plans designed to develop critical analysis skills.  The lessons plans are organized by subject.

North Carolina Character Education Lesson Plans:  These character-building lesson plans are from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.  Sorted by subject (Science, Math, English, Social Studies, Art, Guidance, Communication Skills, and Computer Skills).

PDC Science Lesson Plans:  Fifty science lesson plans organized by subject from the Professional Development Collection of the School of Education, Loyola University, Chicago.

P.O.V.:  Discover 50 first-rate lesson plans that accompany PBS's Point of View documentaries.  Teachers may videotape shows for classroom use or fill out an application and borrow videotapes or DVD's for free.

Practical Money Skills for Life:  Help students become fiscally responsible!  Visa has partnered with leading consumer advocates, educators, and financial institutions to launch this national program.

Physics Lesson Plans:  From the University of Arizona, these three physics lessons are perfect for class investigations (Van de Graff Generator, Density and Buoyancy, and  Making Rainbows).

Read-Write-Think:  A source for 300+ reading and Language Arts lesson plans.

Rectangle Pattern Challenges:  patterns are a great way to explore algebraic concepts.

River of Words:  A non-profit organization whose goal is to establish connections to nature through the use of poetry and art.

SchoolHistory:  This site integrates teaching and learning history with technology.  Great source for anchor activities.

School Renewal Web Center:  A compilation of information for school administrators, and teachers interested in school change.

Secrets of the Ocean Realm:  This site suggests how to adapt the innovative lessons developed by Scripps Institute of Oceanography for different age groups.

Shodor Curriculum Materials:  This is a non-profit educational research organization committed to promoting math and science education through modeling and simulation technologies.

SnowSchool:  SnowSchools are found in 31 locations throughout the United States.  They are run by professional educators, The National Park Service, and the U.S. Forest Service.

Spreadsheets:  Ideas for integrating the use of spreadsheets in the classroom.

Stevens Institute of Technology:  Center of Innovation in Engineering and Science Education:  This is one of the premier sources of collaborative web-based projects.

A Teacher's Internet Toolkit:  Strategies and resources to make teaching easier.

TeacherLink:  Multicultural lesson plans.

TeacherServe:  This is an interactive curriculum enrichment service to help educators design rigorous courses by providing instructional guides and rich content.

Technology Curriculum Integration Ideas:  Ideas for your classroom.

Technology and Learning:  Great ideas for technology integration that are linked to grant sources and management advice.

Tools For Teachers:  A great site with a variety of tutorials and links.

Virtual High School:  VHS is the leader in creating collaborative educational partnerships with schools to provide standards-based online courses and in preparing classroom teachers to be effective online teachers.

World Wide School:  This site is dedicated to the collection, preservation, and presentation of educational reading material.  (Includes foreign language mateirals)

Family Math Night

Best Information On The Net:  A site for college professors with good information for middle and high school teachers and administrators.

The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease (Excerpts)

Steve Krug:  How we really use the Web

Visual Literacy

Bell South Foundation

EDS

Smartboard Funding - Discount towards the purchase of a Smartboard.

Tech Challenge

Tech Learning:  Grants and contests for students and teachers.

Technology Grant News

Virtual Manipulatives

Webquests

Amazing Buildings

American Idols:  What Makes a Hero?

Baseball:  America's Pastime

Classical Music & Composers

Cosmic Collisions

Creatures of the Deep

Dealing with Decimals

Discover The Solar System

Digital Storytelling:  Igniting New Life into Writing

Displaying Data:  Engage your students with interactive graphing tools

Earth's Mighty Rivers

End Book Report Boredom:  Finding Personal Ways To Engage Readers With Literature

Exploring Natural Disasters

Iceland:  The Land of Ice and Fire

It's About Time

Flips, Turns, and Slides A.K.A. Reflections, Rotations, and Translations

Foods

Immigrants

Infusing Technology into Music and Visual Arts

Mastering Spreadsheets

Problem-Based Learning:  Constructing Knowledge Through Inquiry

A Problem-Solving Toolbox

Read All About It!:  Immerse students in the history of this print and online media

Science Fairs

Technology Techiques for At-Risk Learners

Teaching World History Using The Internet:  The Best Classroom-Ready Sites

Thanksgiving Day

Women's History Month

Wonders of the World

Working Dogs

A World of Number Systems

Adding Narration to PowerPoint Presentations:  For PPT 2000 and PPT XP

Digital Cameras In The Classroom:  This beginner's guide offers digital camera strategies, activities, and projects.

Education World:  Instructions for interactive map.

Excel-lent Timelines:  Instructions for making timelines with Excel.

MS Access: The database tutorial.

Microsoft PowerPoint Practice Modules

PowerPoint Tutorials

SEIRTEC:  Great ideas and information about technology integration in the classroom.

Short Courses In Digital Photography:  Follow this easy to understand information on how to use a digital camera.

Tutorials and Hints:  Wonderful resource from Education World for integrating technology in your classroom.

"Twenty Technology Skills Every Educator Should Have": From THE Journal Online, this article provides a list of tutorials for each of the twenty technology skills.

Cut the Knot:  Towers of Hanoi

Hop to It

Mastermind

Paper Pool

Peg Puzzle

SuperKids:  Towers of Hanoi

Toads and Frogs Puzzle

Traffic Jam

Traffic Jam Puzzle

Virtual Manipulative:  Mastermind

Virtual Manipulative:  Towers of Hanoi

Filamentality:  This is a  fill-in-the-blank tool that guides you through picking a topic, searching the Internet, gathering good Internet links, and turning them into online learning activities.

Teacher's Toolbox:  Useful information and help on this site.

Webquest in Our Future:  The Teacher's Role in CyberSpace:  An interesting article by Kathy Schrock.

The Webquest Page:  A gateway to many educational webquests.