The Differentiator

Sometimes I have the attention span of a raccoon when I am reading an article from my rss feeds. I never finish up on the topic I was originally reading about. While reading a very interesting blog post mass customized learning I clicked on a link that led me to an article about flipping the classroom, this had a link to an article about standards, which led me to this pretty cool site called "The Differentiator". No, it is not the name of Arnold Schwartzenager's comeback movie, but an online tool that helps one write standards. It is really hard to explain in a blog post, so just check it out for yourself when you get a moment. http://byrdseed.com/differentiator/#

ReadWorks.org

This morning a colleague shared with me her recent use of ReadWorks.  As a special education teacher, she often needs to find resources that cover the topics of Middle School classes but that are written at a much lower level.  She was thrilled to have discovered ReadWorks, a nonprofit organization that provides reading and reading comprehension materials to educators for free. Registering with ReadWorks was quick and easy, and in no time at all, you can be downloading lessons, reading materials, units, and worksheets that will help your students succeed.  My colleague logged in, selected the non-fiction tab, then reading passages.  Next, she selected a reading level and finally typed in the topic she was looking for, "immigration". The materials she found were appropriate for her 8th grades students, but were written at a 4th grade reading level.  Check this out yourself to see what ReadWorks has to offer your students. Below is an introductory video about ReadWorks.

blubbr: quizzes from youtube clips

blubbr is a site I learned about today from Danny Nicholson's blog The Whiteboard Blog.  At blubbr, you can play quizzes or create your own where a YouTube clip is played, and then a question is asked.    These quizzes are called trivs, and many of them are broken into categories, including Education.  Creating my own triv was quite simple.  Try you hand at the triv I created about the 1960's.