Instructify

I have a love-hate relationship with Wal-Mart. Shopping there can be unpleasant, as I always seem to get stuck in an aisle behind a family of six who can’t find what they’re looking for; however, I still shop there because I know I can find anything I want. Well, 4teachers.org is like the Wal-Mart of classroom technology resources, but better. You can find it all under one roof, AND you won’t spend hours stuck behind a slow-poke.

4teachers.org has a plethora of tools that teachers can use to make their lives easier. Some tools such as RubiStar and Assign-A-Day have already been discussed in this blog. Some other tools that are useful include CasaNotes, Project Based Learning (PBL) Checklists, and The Teacher Tacklebox. CasaNotes generates simple form letters that you can edit and print in English and Spanish. It offers some of the basics you might not want to recreate like progress reports, field trip permission slips, and parent-conference notices. The PBL Checklist section not only gives you information on the basics of PBL, but also provides customizable checklists for typical projects at various grade levels. Finally, the Teacher Tacklebox will allow you to search the best of the resources found on 4teachers.org. You can input a subject (such as Math), a theme (such as Basic Math), and a topic (such as Place Value), and it will come up with lesson ideas, TrackStar tracks (another 4teachers resource), and links to help you differentiate your instruction and integrate technology.

There are many more useful tools on 4teachers.org, so, please browse the “aisles” on your own. You’re guaranteed to find something you can use right away in your classroom, and you won’t have to dodge wayward carts. -REBECCAH HAINES

4teachers.org

Related stuff:

Setting the Standard

Mark your calendar and share it

Have a rubric? Build a rubric. Need a rubric? Take a rubric. Those traditional values imparted to us by the take-a-penny tray at 7-11 are still valid today, as evidenced by the Rubric Machine.

From David Warlick, who brought you the awesome Son of Citation Machine, The Rubric Machine lets you create custom rubrics online and share them with other teachers across the Web. You can set the objectives and point values for each performance indicator, and when you’re done you have a shiny new rubric you can post on the Web.

If you want to use or adapt somebody else’s rubric, you can do that, too. Rubrics created on Rubric Machine are licensed under Creative Commons and are free to use for non-commercial purposes. That means you can grab all the rubrics you need without snatching extra pennies from the take-a-penny tray. –BILL FERRIS

Rubric Machine

Related Stuff:
Reveal Your Sources: Son of Citation Machine
Setting the Standard: Rubistar
The Real Thing: Authentic Assessment Toolbox

“Like I’m ever gonna need to do this in the real world!” Boy, you’d love to show that kid in third period physics a thing or two.Time to reach for the Authentic Assessment Toolbox, a free online guide to “creating authentic tasks, rubrics and standards for measuring and improving student learning.” You can download sample lessons and rubrics for most subjects at all K-12 levels. Toolbox creator Jon Mueller covers the What, Why, and most importantly How of creating assignments that harness more than students’ knowledge that “C” is the most likely answer on multiple choice tests.

So the next time a student whines about how useless an assignment is, you can say, “You’ll see how people use Newton’s laws of motion in tonight’s homework. Due tomorrow, smart guy.” –BILL FERRIS

Authentic Assessment Toolbox

When I was in school, I think the idea of the rubric was dismissed for the utilization of a simpler scale– ranging from “Great Job!” to “Please see me about this…” For the more progressive and discerning teachers of today’s educational systems, rubrics are used more widely and carefully. Teachers want to nurture their students’ creativity, certainly. Often times, you’ll assign creative projects so that students can show off their skills and demonstrate that they are learning all the while. But how do you properly grade such projects?

With rubrics, of course. Check out Rubistar, where you’ll be able to quickly find a rubric for your project based assignments in one of many examples available. You can also design your own using one of the easy templates. Rubistar offers a variety of customizable rubrics in an array of categories, including Oral Projects, Multimedia and Work Skills. Within each category, customizable rubrics range from Class Debate to Writing a Musical, so even if you have a project in mind but don’t know quite how to get it started, these will give you a base line.

Rubistar is free to use and is another great resource from 4Teachers.org, who also bring you QuizStar and TrackStar. Rubistar allows for you to integrate with both BlackBoard and Moodle, so you can directly interact with student via the web for your online course. If you’re totally unsure of what to do, the site offers a few tutorials to get you started. It’s tough to grade creativity, but rubrics will help give you a place to start. –JEREMY S. GRIFFIN

Rubistar