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Methods and Strategies

Sites featuring teaching methods and strategies provide educators with ideas and resources to help them sharpen their teaching skills and add oomph to their lessons. The methods and strategies sites below include materials for enhancing the curriculum, videos of best practices, assessment tools, research results, and more. Included: Two-dozen great sites for updating your methods and strategies.

Keeping abreast of the latest teaching strategies can be a problem for busy teachers; the Internet, however, provides a multitude of convenient, easy-to-use professional development resources for those teachers. In addition to a vast array of lesson plan databases, teachers can find sites showcasing the latest research-based strategies, complete with multimedia demonstrations and suggestions for implementing those strategies in the classroom. For many educators, online professional development is the next best thing to actual classroom visits. Check out the sites below and see what you think!

Digital Edge Learning Interchange
The Digital Edge Learning Interchange features an online library of video exhibits showcasing exemplary teaching with technology. Created by National Board Certified teachers, the exhibits cover a variety of subject areas and grade levels, and provide excellent examples of best practices for teaching with technology.

DiscoverySchool.com
Discovery School.com offers a number of high quality education materials for teachers. The site includes a Lesson Plans area that's browsable by grade or by subject, and a Teaching Tools section containing such useful tools as a Puzzlemaker, Lesson Planner, Worksheet Generator, Quiz Center, and Clip Art Gallery. The recently-launched Curriculum Center promises "classroom activities supporting core curriculum topics;" the science topics available so far include electricity, genetics, magnetism, viruses, and more.

The Gateway to Educational Materials (GEM)
GEM is a one-stop source for high-quality Internet lesson plans, curriculum units, and other educational resources for parents, teachers, and administrators. This extensive collection, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, is searchable by subject area, grade level, and keyword. Each resource -- from 101 Financial Lessons to Zero to Three -- is reviewed according to standards defined by the GEM Governance Document before inclusion in the database.

Smithsonian Education
Smithsonian Education offers a wealth of high quality K-12 lesson plans in art and design, science and technology, history and culture, and language arts. Each lesson includes an overview, background information, activities, national standards, and links to additional resources. The site's extensive Resource Library, searchable by subject, grade level, media type, and keyword, also offers educators information about a vast array of additional resources, including field trips, books and magazines, Websites, brochures, activities, audio visual materials, and much more.

Learn NC
Learn NC, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Education, offers information about a variety of education resources and professional development tools, including information about instructional materials and strategies, educational practices, multimedia professional development materials, new ways of teaching, lesson plans, and WebQuests. In addition, the site provides resources about such "Hot Topics" as the features of effective writing, designing a classroom, and writing across the curriculum. Implementation ideas also are available.

ALSO WORTH A LOOK

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