One of my favourite teacher websites is TeacherVision.com. This website is full of lesson plans, puzzles, quizzes, pre-made graphic organizers, bulletin board ideas, worksheets, and classroom management ideas. If you are willing to pay the $50 a year membership fee this site can be an endlessly used resource. If you are a broke student like I am, you still get 3 free printable per computer. :)
(Relatively) Quick Disclaimer:
Now I have to be honest, this site is not the most pleasing website I have seen design-wise. You are greeted with a scerene yellow header where the TeacherVision logo, with it's half apple with a heart shaped core, is displayed neatly on the left. There is a picture of a smiling teacher; with her unfussed, smiling, and ready to learn pupils behind her. All of the site's organized tabs are easily found displayed near the top: Home, Grades, Subjects, Themes, Printables, etc...
That's fine.
From there though, the site becomes a disaster of text. On the right, in a yellow box, are a mish-mash of articles the site calls "What's New," and on the bottom there are two columns: for signing up for the site's newletter, and one for more seemingly random information that is "Also on TeacherVision." This poor design almost scared me off. In my previous life, I worked with a lot of different websites and helped clients create websites for their clients; I've seen my fair share of horrid and unworkable websites. This experience does not mean that I'm wanting and willing to search through website text to find what I'm looking for though.
Despite the design, one of the best parts about this site is that they have hooked up with DK Publishing to create a partner site, called Daily Teach. This site offers current news that teachers can use in the classroom. Although still covered in text (this one a bit more understandably), the design of this site is a bit more pleasing to the eye. There is a main "Teachable Moment" for the day which provides the picture and full story of a current newsworthy event. Below that is "Classroom Connections," which provides activities by grade level that teacher can use in the classroom to connect to the article.
Ultimately, the combination of TeacherVision and Daily Teach is an incredible combination for teachers. I would say it's well worth its $50 a year.
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