The Teaching Channel                 

I marvel at the immensity of resources available to teachers today. The good news is that there is such a wealth of great assets! The bad news is that there is such a wealth of great assets! Who has the time to mine them all? Every time you think you've found the best resource, another one comes along - "squirrel!" I don't know about you, but I love to check out new resources and am developing a much more discerning eye for what will be valuable to help others. I confess that I don't always give some of the best places on the web the proper attention due to a lack of time or just other things to do, but this week I finally paid attention to one of the greatest teacher resources available ever. This "tuesdays" is all about sharing: sharing good practices, sharing great strategies, sharing great ideas, sharing great teachers all available in one place - the Teaching Channel.

I would like to encourage you to choose one video for each PLC meeting that you have when you meet. All PLCs (Professional Learning Communities) are formed to encourage better teaching and learning. Too often we don't have the opportunity to get to each others' classrooms for peer reviews or to observe a model lesson, but all good teachers understand that having other teachers share practices and ideas is the way we grow. Why not use the Teaching Channel to view good teaching practices together? If you watch the videos or even read the articles in isolation, the chance of applying what you have learned is quite low. If you bring it to your PLC, your probability of application will automatically rise if you hold each other accountable. I think the biggest lesson to learn from this valuable resource is that we are in the greatest profession ever and it is our responsibility to make it even better. We don't have to do it alone.

How do you take full advantage of the vast resources of the Teaching Channel? Sign up for an account. It's FREE and it's designed to celebrate teaching and learning. Once you create your account, you will be able to make comments on the videos, personalize your account so others will be more likely to share with you and share your own great resources. The Teaching Channel supplies members with a unique Workspace, an innovative way to share ideas on videos with other teachers. Encourage other educators at your school to join and begin growing your network with teachers all over the country. Being a member has other benefits if you add your interests in your profile. As new videos are added, you will be notified by email. The Teaching Channel blog, Tchers' Voice is another great way to learn and share. Be sure and check out this 1-minute from the Teaching Channel and share it!

"A good teacher must put themselves in the place of those who find learning hard."

Eliphas Levi

Student Engagement (paper slide videos) 

ipadio   

LiveBinders 

Doceri 

NASA's Image Gallery 

Popplet 

Zoey's Room
Finance in the Classroom
Fotopedia 

The Common Good Forecaster  

Google Earth 

UJAM 

Symbaloo.edu 

Google Science Fair 

Stossel in the Classroom
Word Sift 

Lee Kolbert