Read, Write, Think student interactives: alphabet organizer

Read, Write, Think has myriad resources for teachers, including student interactives. Here's a bit of description of the Alphabet Organizer. Click on the hyperlinked text below to learn more.

Alphabet Organizer has numerous applications for classroom instruction. Students have the option to enter one word, more than one word, or a word and related notes for each letter of the alphabet. Elementary students can use the tool to create an alphabet book with words for each letter of the alphabet. The tool can also be used to have students brainstorm and discuss background knowledge on a topic they are beginning to study. At the end of the unit, the chart can be revisited to add new information or to correct erroneous information. Alternatively, the tool can be used for a vocabulary study by having students enter vocabulary words and related notes or definitions. This interactive tool enables students to print an alphabet chart or pages for an alphabet book.

To explore other student interactives, click here.

9/11 resources

Whether it’s with a moment of silence or an outpouring of service, schools across the country are considering how to help their students observe the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. A wide range of resources are available to assist educators as they seek learning opportunities around this emotion-charged date. (Suzie Boss at Edutopia)

Follow the hyperlinked text above to learn more about the resources Boss suggests.

Check out TED

TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with two annual conferences -- the TED Conference in Long Beach and Palm Springs each spring, and the TEDGlobal conference in Edinburgh UK each summer -- TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Project and TED Conversations, the inspiring TED Fellows and TEDx programs, and the annual TED Prize. (from the TED website)

Perhaps the above text doesn't do TED justice. So below is one of the many talks available at TED.

The value of getting it wrong

People remember things better, longer, if they are given very challenging tests on the material, tests at which they are bound to fail. In a series of experiments, they showed that if students make an unsuccessful attempt to retrieve information before receiving an answer, they remember the information better than in a control condition in which they simply study the information. Trying and failing to retrieve the answer is actually helpful to learning. It’s an idea that has obvious applications for education, but could be useful for anyone who is trying to learn new material of any kind. (Henry L Roediger and Brigid Finn at Scientific American)

California looks at digital textbooks

California schools have cracked the spine on open source, free digital textbooks in an attempt to save money and to make educational resources easier to access and update.


The cash-strapped state launched the nation's first open source digital textbook initiative last May, asking content providers to submit high school-level math and science texts for free. The state reviewed 16 digital textbooks, available as PDF files (downloadable at the California Learning Resource Network), scored by how well they align with state standards. Teachers began accessing the texts online last fall. (Kara Platoni at Edutopia)

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