Do your students need to study more? Okay, probably a dumb question. How about this one - do you have students who need to learn how to study? Some kids are better at studying than others. Fortunately, by imparting study skills, you can teach kids more effective ways to learn. A great place to start? How-to-Study.com.

Note: make sure to include the hyphens, as howtostudy.com is a much different site (I haven’t reviewed it, so I couldn’t tell you if it’s better or worse).

At How-to-Study.com you can find strategies for overcoming the most tricky subjects students face, including word problems in math, long spelling words, writing research papers, as well as abstract skills like setting goals, time management, and good listening skills. All the study strategies are thorough and free.

With How-to-Study.com, your students can learn to take more effective notes  so they’ll be ready for your upcoming multiple choice test (the site has strategies for those, too). -BILL FERRIS

How-to-Study.com

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Teachers have a lot to do on any given day, and it can be difficult to find time to sit down and create nice, simple worksheets that perfectly complement your lesson plans or design calendars to help organize both you and your students. Butthanks to the Internet, there are tons of resources you can take advantage of to make your tough job a little bit easier.

The Worksheet Library is an online resource full of worksheets, calendars, planners, newsletter templates, bookmarks and tons of other useful materials on subjects like math, science, and language arts to use in your kindergarten through sixth grade classroom. You can check out more than 500 materials available on the site for free (all the free worksheets are designated with the little “free” icon next to them), and you can sign up for their free weekly worksheet which is conveniently sent directly to your e-mail.

As an added bonus, the site also offers free teaching tip articles for grades K through 6 on topics like report card comments, time-saving advice, and icebreaker exercises, which are useful to both novice and experienced teachers alike.

To reap all the benefits of the site, you do need a membership, though you should be able to find enough free stuff to be worth your while. And they add new materials each week, so there’s always something new to check out!

We know you’re busy, so let the Internet do a little bit of the work now and again. Really, it doesn’t mind! - LAUREN FROHNE

Worksheet Library

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8 Tips to Help You Think Like a Genius - I don’t need these tips, personally, because me am already genius. You might find them useful, though. ZME Lifetips recommends visualization, being productive, and thinking metaphorically amongst others. Start using these tips and you’ll be a geinus in no time.

5 Questions That Will Save You Time and Money - Lifehack presents this list of questions you should ask yourself to tell if you are being productive or actually wasting time. There are a lot of do-it-yourself-ers out there who think they can do-it-themselves but they end up not-doing-it-right so they end-up-paying-for-it-later. The first of these five questions sums it up nicely: Do I have the skills necessary for the task?

6 Best Ways to Learn Physics… For Free - I don’t know much about physics, but I do know it is easier to understand if you see it in action. Blog Learn Out Loud has compiled this list of a few good video demonstrations you can find on the web. Included on the list is a great video we mentioned before about the 10th dimension.

List of Educational Web 2.0 Apps to Jumpstart Your Productivity - There are a lot of Web 2.0 applications out there, but only a few are catered toward becoming a better learner. DiplomaGuide has found some of the better ones available. These 25 applications are divided into categories like ‘organization’ and ‘note taking’. There seems like a good mix here, so sort your way through to find what you can recommend to your students. -JEREMY S. GRIFFIN

Photo credit: Szagi on flickr

I don’t know how I’ve been living without Skitch. This Mac only (sorry Windows users!) application has loads of great features wrapped around a simple screen grabber. I use the built in screen capture function on my Mac (shift+apple+fn+3 (or 4) will copy it to your clipboard) all the time for blogging, but Skitch goes an extra mile and a half with all the extra bells and whistles you could ask for. For starters, it’s a free application that sits as a tiny heart icon in your top toolbar, and all you need to do to take a crosshair or full screen snapshot is click the drop-down menu.

Things just get easier from there, as you can then take advantage of the stuff that really makes Skitch stand out. You can resize, draw, add arrows and other shapes, add text, and easily upload your caps to your free account, which you have to set up in order to download the application. There’s even a sharp intro video that will get you started in minutes. I could go on about this amazing tool, but I really recommend grabbing it for yourself.

Windows users, fret not, we haven’t forgotten about you. While I can’t completely verify that any of the tools available are what you might get with Skitch, they at least sound comparable in usability. Try Screenshot Captor which has features like a deluxe thumbnail maker, or Jing, which is available for both Windows and Mac. -JEREMY S. GRIFFIN

How to Save Money on Gas - 29 Tips – I now own a car for the first time in ages. In fact, the last time I had to fill up a tank it barely cost me a nickel. And back then there were only 14 cars, period. Okay, so that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but gas is seriously expensive right now. Here’s a great list from OpenTravelInfo.com, where they explore some easy and great ways to cut down on the amount of nickels you pour down your tank.

18 Five-Minute Decluttering Tips to Start Conquering Your Mess – Let me guess, you “know where everything is,” right? Even so, it doesn’t make your work any easier. Who wants to come home from a cluttered desk to a cluttered desk? Zen Habits presents these 18 tips on where to begin.

8 Ways to be Ruthless With Your Time – Who knew that actually planning your day would save you time? Not me, I guess. Thanks to Lifehack, now I know that scheduling things before I do them can help me save some minutes. Read more about it and seven other tips here.

29 Healthiest Foods on the Planet – If Superman was a real dude, I imagine his menu might look a little something like this. This list via BellyBites.com boasts such delicious and nutritious foods such as Apricots, Bok Choy and Crab. (Not a suggested combination of ingredients, however.) –JEREMY S. GRIFFIN

Photo credit: incurable_hippie on flickr.

50 Tricks to Get Things Done Faster, Better, and More Easily - Lifehack presents a list of things that you can (and should) be doing in order to make your life easier, thus making you happier and more productive. Most of the tips are about efficiency and time-management, but there are some things you can do in order to make yourself healthier and more prepared for success. Number 51: Be a Robot.

7 Questions To Ask If You Want To Solve a Problem - From makeGENIUS comes this quick list of the kind of things you should be asking yourself when faced with a challenge. Whether in the classroom or in the carpool, we all have tough decisions we have to make, but they only become problems if we let them.

Five Sites to Help Teens Find Part Time Jobs - It’s Spring Break time, which means Summer is right around the corner. Summer means fun with friends, lazy afternoons, pool parties, and of course - Summer jobs… I had them, you probably did too, and your students are going to have to have them if they want that fancy new motor car. Luckily, the web is there to help them do something that doesn’t necessitate saying the words “do you want the combo with that?” WebUpon has this list of sites and explanations that will aide in getting your rising sophomores hired.

110+ Resources For Creative Minds - Feeling stuck? Want to give your students a project that will enhance and utilize their uncorrupted creative minds? Try checking out these resources from SkellieWag which include links, tips and tricks.

(photo credit: Wetsun on Flickr)

85 Resources for Fiction Writers - As a writer, I feel its important to know as much about writing as possible. Thusly, the elements of fiction writing bleed into other kinds of writing quite easily. Also, the more your students know about writing fiction, the more the y will understand what they read, right? Check out this great list from Here to Create.

Websites to Learn About Web 2.0 - If you are still uncertain about what Web 2.0 means exactly, then these sites compiled by 21st Century Connections will clue you in. (Apparently, it has something to do with something called a “blogosphere” and might be a lot better than the first version of the Internet.) Some of the sites are quite useful for your day to day life, and all of them will make sure you get the most out of “your” Internet.

8 Ways to Put Off Procrastination Until Tomorrow - I like to think of our quaint little blog as being more important than just offering advice and tools to make teaching easier, but hopefully, making your life easier and more productive as well. Procrastination is one of the killers of productivity, so its important to eliminate it with extreme prejudice. There are probably lots of ways to cut down on procrastinating, but here are A Miracle a Day’s 8 ways for the time being. I’ll think of some more later.

10 Top Websites for Brain Training - If you want to be a mental ninja, you’re going to have to take some mental karate first. SocyBerty gives us this compilation of brain exercise based sites so you can get your mind into the gym. There are tons of fun games and activities here, so your students will no doubt appreciate the fun whilst whipping their brains’ butts into shape. - JEREMY S. GRIFFIN

(photo credit: flattop341 on flickr)

They say time is money. In a school, time is knowledge. For example, the time you spend getting your students to calm down after recess is time you no longer have to teach them their vocabulary words this week. To keep your class on track, whip out this handy dandy Class Timer.

Class Timer can do exactly two things: it can track how long an activity takes, or count down from a predetermined time. But its uses are practically limitless. If you’re giving a test, Class Timer can let them know exactly how long they have left to finish. Once the science lesson is done, tell your kids they’ve got exactly two minutes to get their social studies homework out. Or see who has the fastest time in a math race.

With Class Timer, time won’t slip away from you, and your students will have more time to expand their knowledge. -BILL FERRIS

Class Timer

How do you get people to agree on meeting times? Unless you bribe people with food, getting meeting commitments is next to impossible. If scheduling headaches plague your staff meetings, consider using TimeBridge.

TimeBridge lets you suggest several potential meeting times. Attendees then respond, selecting which times work best for them (and they don’t have to sign up for TimeBridge to do so). Once that’s done, TimeBridge schedules your meeting for you. No fuss, and no wading through a swamp of emails trying to figure out everyone’s availability.

Two features that set TimeBridge apart: you can sync TimeBridge with your Outlook or Google calendar, and TimeBridge can provide free conference call numbers. That means you can easily consult your schedule when setting or accepting meetings. Also, everyone can participate, even if you’re traveling that day.

TimeBridge is also an ideal tool for students juggling extracurricular activities. If you assign a group project and Mary has play rehearsal, but Johnny can only meet after football practice but before Lost comes on his scheduled homework time, TimeBridge is the way to go. So no more excuses, no more grumbling about bad meeting times, and no bribes. Though bringing a snack for the meeting still wouldn’t hurt. -BILL FERRIS

TimeBridge

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11 Great Ways to Earn Extra Money - From Free Money Finance, this list maps out some of the things you can do to make some extra dough this year. Some of the ways are a little more involved than others, but the examples given for each tip make them seem a little more manageable. Though it should be noted, the title does say “earn”– so this money isn’t going to just fall into your lap. My plan, however: sit back, wait for economy stimulating 600 smackers from Uncle Sam.

50 Ways to Start a Conversation - This article is Here is a fantastic Hey, yo, check out this blog What up? Ya’ll gotta read this Don’t Be Shy is a blog for those of us who have a more difficult time getting out in the real world and interacting with others. Here, blogger Dee shares 50 great ways to jump right in to the conversation. I personally have never had a problem starting a conversations, only blog posts.

10 Ways I Have Learned About Myself - Well, not ME, but blogger Peter on I Will Change Your Life.com has learned about HIMself. Truth be told, those 10 things are just the sort we should all be more aware of. Peter’s idea of ‘Living Consciously’ involves everything from sleep to happiness. Be sure to check it out and see how consciously you are living your life.

10 Secrets to Overclock Brain Activity - Unleash the power of your mind! (I really have no idea what that statement means… Sounds Scientologistic, though) But seriously, you can probably be doing more to help yourself think more clearly and productively. Check out Ego Development for these 10 ways to boost your brain juice. -JEREMY S. GRIFFIN

photo: Arbron

Who doesn’t need more calendar templates? The aptly-named Free Printable Calendar Templates allows you to download Microsoft Word templates for monthly, weekly, and yearly calendars, as well as HTML calendars.Since it’s free, you can only get calendars for dates within the next month, but hey, if you’re looking for weekly calendar templates to help students plan their time, these should do quite nicely. –ROSS WHITE

Free Printable Calendar Templates

Back in my day we didn’t have palm pilots and electronic do-dads to keep us on schedule. We used our noggins and good old fashioned fear to help us keep our appointments.

But I can live with these free, downloadable, no-frills organizational templates from organizedhome.com. Print daily planners for students to keep track of their assignments. Use a calendar to schedule tests and quizzes. Maybe keep a parent contact list handy in case Flick sticks his tongue to the flagpole this winter.

For bite-sized organization, check out the all-in-one, note card-sized “Hipster PDA” from diyplanner.com. It’s packed with daily and monthly planners, shopping lists, finance sheets, story boards for creative work, and a bevy of other paper-based productivity pieces. You can find a template to organize virtually any facet of your hectic, stressed-out life.

Check out both sites to see which one is for you. Because even if you’re a Luddite, you can stay organized. -BILL FERRIS

Printable Planner Pages via Organized Home
Hipster PDA via D*I*Y Planner

Getting teachers to agree on a meeting time is tougher than getting people to agree on pizza toppings. Everyone’s schedules are filled to overflowing. How can you find a time that works for everybody?

TimeToMeet offers an easy solution. You create a meeting on the TimeToMeet Web site. They present you with a calendar, in which you “paint” blocks of time that work for you. You then send this calendar to the folks you want to meet with, then they select times that work for them. TimeToMeet finds the common ground and lets you confirm the final meeting time. You can also make your preferences invisible to others, so that faculty member who keeps giving you the evil eye won’t be mysteriously unavailable during your prime meeting hours.

All that stuff is free. If you want to shell out five bucks, you get six months of their Pro account, which lets you synchronize TimeToMeet to your Outlook, Apple iCal, or Google calendar, as well as give you a “TimeToMeet Secretary,” a personal URL where folks can make future appointments with you. Very cheap, but free is even cheaper, and if your calendar isn’t a big part of your life the basic account should be enough.

TimeToMeet may be the second-best way to ensure people attend a meeting. The absolute best way, of course, is pizza. If only everyone could agree on the toppings. –BILL FERRIS

TimeToMeet

We’ve all got our own ways of doing things. But does “Hey, it works for me!” really mean “I’ve got bad habits that I’m too old to fix”? Everybody has bad habits. Often, they originated when we were young, when our tasks were small enough that we could compensate for poor organization. Blogger Eric MacKnight at The Good Habits Blog writes about developing solid organizational habits when you’re young so you’ll have them when you really need them.

MacKnight discusses how tasks such as scheduling events and writing down assignments may seem unimportant as a kid when you don’t have much to do. But as we grow, responsibilities multiply, and it’s not so easy to keep everything straight without having some sort of organizational strategy.

Though it’s never too late to change, even for old farts like us, this is a good lesson to impart to your students. Learning to manage their lives while they’re young can mean extra productivity and success for them when they’re grown. –BILL FERRIS

The Good Habits Blog

It’s hard to manage time in a room full of people who want you to waste it. No student is going to remind you to “Get back to the lecture; we’ve had enough tangential dilly-dally.” Meanwhile, the temptation to let the Bill Nye video roll over into the next activity melts away those precious minutes of learn-time like fat in a Foreman Grill.

Michael Stelzner over at Copyblogger has posted some helpful time management tools in response to a survey of his readers. When asked “What keeps you from writing?” they overwhelmingly answered “time.” These three .pdf files easily carry over to any other activity.

Start with the Time Management Assessment, a checklist of useful habits ranging from the not-quite-revolutionary (“I carry a calculator, to do math faster”) to more legitimate items of efficacy (“I am not afraid to ask people for information that I need”). The Assessment also helps you tally up all those little black holes of work-time such as personal calls. Astonishingly, checking your inbox, watching YouTube and tweaking your Facebook profile aren’t listed—but do yourself a favor and add them as categories.

The next tool is a time log, a surprisingly helpful little worksheet for researching your own habits on a minute-by-minute basis. This could be ideal for maximizing class time. Now, with all you’ve gleaned, you can answer the penetrating self-scrutiny of the Time Management Questionnaire, which asks you why you think you are the way you are and gives you a big old box to write in. Stelzner found this at the “ethical work and business tools” website titled, ahem, businessballs.com. –PATRICK O’BOYLE

Time Management Tools