ABSPD

The Adult Basic Skills Professional Development, or ABSPD, is a part of Appalachian State's Reich College of Education and has been offering adult educators in North Carolina workshops, training materials, and week-long summer institutes since 1988. ABSPD is now partnering with NC State and NCCCS to provide credentialing workshops to all basic skills instructors. At the ABSPD website, you can view a link to the NCCCS training calendar, links to the GPS toolkit and descriptions of content standards in addition to numerous other teaching and training materials.

Visit http://abspd.appstate.edu/ to learn more information.

North Carolina Community Colleges System Website

The North Carolina Community Colleges System Website is a place where you can access important information regarding College and Readiness policies and procedures, credentialing information, and a calendar listing all of the upcoming training, conferences, and other professional development opportunities.

The steps for accessing the website are below:

Step 1: Go to www.nccommunitycolleges.edu.

 

Step 2: Click on Colleges.

Step 3: Scroll down until you find College and Career Readiness.

 Step 4: At the College and Career Readiness page, look for the Training Calendar.

Step 5: Select Instructor Credentialing Calendar to view all of the course offerings for the current year. See your Policies and Procedures Manual for further information regarding course offerings and requirements.

NC Online

NC Online is a website designed to provide Basic Skills educators in North Carolina with quick and easy access to a variety of professional development options including online courses and credentialing information. The Steps for accessing the website are below:

Step 1: Go to http://ncbsonline.net and click on Enter.

Step 2: At the NC Online Home page, click on the link to Online PD.

Step 3: From the Online PD page, you can either click on Enter Here, which will take you to the Online PD Directory of courses, or you can access the Virtual Library from this page as well. 

The Virtual Library allows you to search a repository of information from lesson plans in all subject areas to information about the National Reporting System (NRS).

The Online PD Directory offers access to free webinars and online courses in many different areas of Basic Skills that you can participate in without having to leave your home or office.

Science Animations

As most of you may have experienced, when teaching science, it's often helpful to utilize drawings/diagrams. Nowadays, we are lucky enough to have the internet and all of its possibilities. One such involving science is animations. Below I've listed links to a number of science websites that contain interactive animations pertaining to all aspects of science. You can show these on the projector, and/or your students can investigate them at their computers!

http://www.cellsalive.com/index.htm --has a great interactive animation of plant and animal cells

http://www.kscience.co.uk/animations/anim_1.htm --has hundreds of animations in biology, chemistry, and physics

http://www.science-animations.com --has some interesting animations on gravity, electricity, earth-moon-plants, etc.

Let me know if you've found any others, and I'll add them to the list!

The Learning Network

The Learning Network is a blog published by The New York Times Company that provides free teaching and learning material based on NY Times content. The lessons range from opinion questions to news quizzes to word-of-the-day lessons. Students are also encouraged to comment on any posts and join in on conversations with their peers.

I recently used a segment called "163 Questions" with my students. They were asked to browse a list of 163 questions that had been posed to students on The Learning Network over the past year. Once they found one of interest to them, they could click on the question and read an article with a brief synopsis of the issue. Then, they were encouraged to review previous student responses in the "Comments" section, looking for specific types of responses. At the end, they composed a response to the question based on their opinion, as well as any research they had done on the site. The students could then submit their writings as additional comments and have their voice be heard!

To visit The Learning Network, go to: http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/.

If you'd like to check out the "163 Questions," you can go straight to http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/12/163-questions-to-write-or-talk-about/.

Create A Graph

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has a really great interactive tool called "Create A Graph." Your students can enter data into a program and create bar graphs, line graphs, and pie charts. There are various types of designs students can choose from, including background and type of shading. They can also label their graphs and print or save them when they finish. This website could be used in a variety of different subjects, and students will be able to practice creating graphs without wasting paper and supplies!

To reach the page, you can follow this link: http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/default.aspx?ID=4e00b446060e4635bbdbcd0f8bd68a21

Here is an example :)

History Buff

History Buff.com is operated by a non-profit organization whose main goal is to provide primary source materials for students studying history. They have a wonderful newspaper archive with .pdf copies of newspaper articles dating back to the early 1700s. Reading these articles would be a great way for students to learn about major historical events and how they were received in the public. They also have a section for reference materials and even "historical panoramas" where the students can visit (via the Internet!) famous historical locations in our nation's history.

Visit www.historybuff.com to check out some of these resources!

DadsWorksheets

DadsWorksheets.com has over 7,000 printable math worksheets starting with addition and going through subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, percentages, basic measurement and pre-algebra. There are several versions of each type of worksheet, and each worksheet comes with its own answer key. There is even an online timer students can use if they choose.

If you've ever had a student express the need for more and more practice, this is a great site to send them to where they can check their own work as they go along.

Visit www.dadsworksheets.com to check it out!


Big thanks to Carlene Bean for sharing this with us!!

Education Portal

Update: Education Portal is now www.study.com and their resources are no longer free. In order to access their full selection of videos, you will need to pay for a monthly membership. You can view the first few minutes of each video free as a preview.

Education Portal is a wonderful collection of free online video resources that's growing everyday. They have a group of over 24 college instructors who have put together videos with animation, drawings/paintings, and photos to teach students various subjects from history to literature. At the end of each 10-minute video, the student has the option of taking a short quiz and can even access a transcript of the video.The videos are in order and take a logical progression through any given subject, giving the students the chance to build on what they've previously learned. Most of the material is at a GED level or above, so it would be great for those students who are preparing to attend college after they graduate. This way they can get a preview of the subject matter they will be learning, and it can help them on the GED test at the same time!

To watch a sample video from their US History course on the social and economic impacts of the Revolutionary War, visit the following link:
http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/american-revolution-social-and-economic-impact.html

To see their full collection of free online educational videos, click here: http://education-portal.com/academy/course/index.html.

Out of all of the websites that I have visited that include educational videos, the organization, subject matter, and professionalism of these videos make it, in my opinion, one of the best.

Don't forget to share your comments with us after you give it a try. We'd love to hear how you and your students utilize the material!

Here's a list of their current collection of resources, including links to the videos. They are adding more everyday!

• Math:  Algebra, College Mathematics, Precalculus, Calculus (252 videos)
• Science: Biology, Chemistry (143 videos)
• Business: Management, Marketing, Information Systems (94 videos)
• Social Science:  Economics, Psychology,  Educational Psychology (203 videos)
• History: U.S. History, Western Civilization (102 videos)
• Literature and Composition: English Literature, American Literature and Composition (84 videos)
• Spanish: coming soon!
• Natural Sciences: coming soon!
• Humanities: coming soon!

Teaching That Makes Sense

Teaching that Makes Sense is a collection of resources created by The Free Learning Project. These are "classroom-proven teaching tools for all grade levels" that are available to you for free! You can download .pdf files that include resources for reading and writing on a variety of levels. These documents include lesson plans, handouts, wonderful graphic organizers, and even teacher feedback and experiences. I have had great success using The Writing Teacher's Strategy Guide, which is one of my favorites and includes tons of great organizers! Check out www.ttms.org!

Teach With Movies

Beth Bowman has recently worked with a website called www.TeachWithMovies.org.  Read her description below for information about this awesome resource. 

      "Great lesson plans at this website. While studying “how to change the constitution”, our class watched 30 min./day of the movie, Iron Jawed Angels, a movie about the 19th amendment, Womens’ Suffrage.  We had a discussion after each part. There are lesson plans for English, Social Studies, Science, and Math.  Good for vocabulary and critical thinking skills.  Cost: $11.99/yr., but you can get 6 free samples."

Each Lesson Plan Contains:

• Learner Outcomes/Objectives
• Rationale
• Preparation
• Exact Location of the Clip in the Movie, Film or Video
• Step-by-Step Instructions for Using the Clip in the Classroom 

Follow this link for an overview of a sample lesson on using The Crucible to teach US History.
http://teachwithmovies.org/guides/crucible.html


 

Constitution Center

Per Beth Bowman, your students may want to visit the Constitution Center website, which includes:

"Excellent interactive moving timeline!  An evolution of our struggles to become a country that embraces fairness regardless of religion, race, or gender.  Includes sound bite excerpts from famous speeches, music of the era, etc.  Good for Social Studies and critical thinking."

Visit http://constitutioncenter.org/timeline/flash/cw.html to check it out today!

Thanks Beth!

Starfall

Starfall is a website that was designed as a free public service to teach children how to read with phonics. They have beginning lessons in reading, including introducing letter sounds and gradually progressing to reading simple sentences in a story. The graphics are mostly intended for children, but I have had great success with some of my older non-readers who find it funny and interesting. You will probably want to first gauge the sensitivity of your student before you put them on, but it can be a more interesting alternative to Reading Horizons. There are also interactive games, as well.

Visit www.starfall.com to give it a try!

*Thanks to Cherie Ward for suggesting this resource!

WatchKnowLearn

Watchknowlearn.org is a well-organized collection of free educational videos. You are able to browse videos by subject or by grade level (up to eight). Some of the videos are hosted on their site; others are linked to from other sites. Each subject has subcategories, which allows for easier navigation of the site's resources. If you browse by subject area, you can also see the appropriate age range for each video, allowing you to narrow down your search to the appropriate level of your students. Many of these videos can be found by doing a YouTube search or something similar; however, what's wonderful about WatchKnowLearn is that these videos have already been searched for, sorted, and organized. It saves you a lot of time and effort to find what your students need!

Click on the link below to visit WatchKnowLearn today.

http://watchknowlearn.org

NCLOR

The North Carolina Learning Object Repository has a collection of resources for teachers at every level, including online lesson plans, interactive web tools, and audio and multimedia lessons. The site allows you to browse their collection of resources by discipline, by learning resource type, by level, or by resource series. It's easy to navigate, and you can log in as a guest (which requires no password). If you like the site and want to access more, you may also request an individual educator account.

Click on the link below to visit the NCLOR!

http://www.nclor.org/nclorprod/access/home.do

SAS Curriculum Pathways

SAS Curriculum Pathways is a website that provides all students, parents, and educators free access to over 1100 high quality standards-based resources. The writing interactives are some of the best online help for writing that I have found, including their award-winning Writing Reviser, which allows students to copy and paste completed essays and get personalized feedback to guide them in their decision-making during revision. Teachers can also use this site to locate lessons they can use in the classroom, as well as the perfect resource for a student who needs additional help in a specific area. You can even save your favorite resources and place them into folders with comments, so you can keep all of the wonderful resources you've found organized!

Click here to view the Writing Reviser!

Teachers may create a free account by subscribing. All you will need to do is enter in your information, including where you teach, create a username and password, and you can have access to the teacher-related materials. Once you have created your account, they will email your information, including a username that can be used by any students at our school. In other words, students do not need to create an account to access this material. They may use the student user name that you will be sent upon setting up a teacher account.

Watch the video below for a brief introduction to SAS Curriculum Pathways or visit www.sascurriculumpathways.com to get started. 

GCF LearnFree.org

GCF LearnFree.org is a great website that includes hundreds of lessons and tutorials on computers, math, and reading. I think this is a wonderful site to use with your students, especially those who express some hesitation and fear when it comes to using the computer. We have such great resources for them online, but they won't feel comfortable using them without some familiarity with the computer. In addition, you may also want to check out some of the computer lessons for yourself. They have some great tutorials divided into lessons, interactives, and videos for Microsoft Office, Email, Google Drive and Docs, and even Internet and Computer Basics. I highly recommend checking this site out!

Watch the video below for a brief introduction to www.GCFLearnFree.org

TypingWeb

Typingweb.com is a site that provides students modules to practice their keyboarding skills, including using homerow keys, etc. Most of my students who have tried it really seem to enjoy it. At the very least, it allows them to become more familiar with the keys and what each one does. This is a very important skill for our students both in and outside of the classroom, and I encourage students to use this site to practice from home, as well. Students will need to register an account with a username and a password. I have been having my students enter their first and last name with no spaces and 123456789 as their passwords.


You can watch the video below to see a brief introduction on how to use Typingweb.com.

ChompChomp!

Grammar Bytes is a website that I found when I was teaching freshmen English at Clemson. Our students were expected to be proficient in grammar before they ever enrolled in school. Therefore, teaching any type of grammar, punctuation, etc. was really frowned upon. Unfortunately, this was very unrealistic as most of our students did in fact need a lot of help in that area. I found this website to help supplement what we couldn't do in class. It has handouts, presentations, and, my favorite, interactive exercises that will even explain why you missed a question. It covers many areas of grammar, punctuation, and even word choice. If the student's are getting a little tired of the ITTS program, or if it's just not working for them, give www.chompchomp.com a try!

Florida Tech Net

www.floridatechnet.org 

The Florida Tech Net website is a clearinghouse of resources and e-learning for adult educators created by the Florida Department of Education. The site houses everything from complete lesson plans (organized by standards) for Pre-GED and GED classes in all subject areas to professional development webinars and links to resources around the web. I HIGHLY recommend giving this link a look: http://www.floridatechnet.org/lib-lessons.html. Their lessons are well-put together and include everything you would need all in one place. If you're an ABE teacher, you might also want to visit this link: http://www.floridatechnet.org/static/ABEresources.html to find information specific to your students. This site could offer you some great ideas in a fraction of the time it would normally take you to put together lessons!

You may also be interested in watching this video where I give an overview of how to access the resources on Florida TechNet.

Khan Academy

Most of you have probably already visited this site, but, just in case, I want to make sure that you and your students are aware of www.khanacademy.org. This site houses a collection of videos on many subjects including math and science. Each section is divided into easy-to-navigate categories and sub-categories. So far, I've had a lot of success using it in the classroom, especially in areas such as fractions and probability. The math section begins with basic addition and subtraction and goes as far as we would every need! The student will need headphones to access this material as each lesson is narrated. If you play the video above, you'll see an example of one of their earlier videos posted on YouTube.

Also, try out the site's "Practice" section. It allows students to answer practice questions in any area of math. It even supplies hints if the student gets stuck and directs them to the video that could provide extra help.