Resources and Tools for Educators to Help Students Be Successful
The amount of information out there on how to help your students succeed can be overwhelming. Fortunately, there are strategies that take the uncertainty out of helping college students succeed. We’ve compiled the top resources to help your students achieve their goals and have fun while doing it.
Be Creative
Getting students to engage in the learning process will maximize their results and help each student reach their full potential. One of the best ways to capture your students’ attention is to be creative and think outside the box. For example, implementing debates and games can help keep them engaged and eager for future lessons.
Provide Relevant Study Materials
Although lectures and tutorials will provide most of the content for your course, some students will need additional help to grasp your subject thoroughly. One of the best ways of overcoming this barrier is providing online resources, such as workbooks, ebooks, and past papers. These high-quality materials allow your students to get a feel for exam-style questions and drastically improve their preparation. In addition, all content is available from within Blackboard to make them simple to access at home or on campus.
Vary Your Instruction
When you vary teaching methods, you provide students with more learning opportunities. Every student has different strengths and weaknesses. Instead of just focusing on one method that only appeals to a single learning style, varying your teaching techniques allow you to cater your lessons to different learning styles. Students will be more successful if they are more engaged and are taught in a style that speaks to them.
Set Achievable Goals
To engage your students throughout the semester, you want to set challenging yet attainable goals for them. Work with them to determine goals that they’d be happy with and how you can work together to achieve them. This can help hold your students accountable and allow them to reach their potential.
Set High Expectations
Cultivate an academic environment in your classroom by setting high, but not impossible, expectations for your students. Push students to achieve higher standards and they will eventually get there — and along the way, offer lots of praise. Of course, some may take more time than others, but all students want to be told, “You’re smart, and you’re doing a good job.”
Be Transparent and Ready to Help
Provide your students with a clear and detailed syllabus at the beginning of the year. It should explain your grading policies, attendance rules, expected class behavior, and any other information they’ll need. For example, if you assign essays or research papers, give them a copy of your rubric, so they know exactly what’s expected of them. One reason some students fail is that they are not clear on what is expected of them during a course.
If a student gets a C- on an essay but never had the reasoning behind the grade explained to them, they won’t know what to improve on in the future and will likely put in little effort on the next assignment.
Continually Grow in Your Profession
With new ideas and research available, it is essential to keep up with the latest information through online forums, workshops, and professional journals. This willl lead to increased student interest and greater success. In addition, teaching the same lessons each school year can become monotonous over time. This can result in uninspired teaching. In this case, students will pick up on this and become bored and distracted. Including new ideas and teaching methods can make a huge difference.
Here are 15 of the best teacher resources to get you started!
Best Teacher Resources
1 . TeachHUB Education Blog
Technology, teaching strategies, and classroom management — this blog has these all covered. Every week, new content is published about using technology and practical teaching strategies. This blog also provides ways to utilize classroom resources to build stronger relationships with students.
2. Library Stuff
A law librarian’s blog that shares daily bits of education news, current state, conferences, periodicals, and tons of other information can be exhausted for professional development. Stay in the loop with the latest updates on education by subscribing to this personal teacher website.
3. Education Week
EdWeek offers daily news and fantastic advice on addressing everyday classroom scenarios for passionate educators. In addition, browsing this blog will provide you with easy access to e-books, professional development kits, and links to follow-worthy blogs related to education.
4. Code.org
Learn to code with these one-hour tutorials designed for learners of all ages in over 45 languages.
5. The Hechinger Report
Showcasing in-depth journalism at a whole new level, The Hechinger Report deals with the latest innovation and everyday issues on education and academics. In addition, the website tackles a plethora of timely topics, including blended learning, early education, higher education, high school reform, teacher preparation, and so much more.
6. High Techpectations
Lucy Gray designed her blog to inspire today’s educators. Here, she shares ideas, resources, downloadable PDFs, and multiple valuable links for the savvy teacher. Plus, you’ll get easy access to her YouTube workshop by joining in!
7. Education World
Education World is a complete online resource for teachers, administrators, and school staff to find high-quality and in-depth original content. In addition, they offer more than 1,000 free lessons.
8. Everfi
Everfi offers free digital courses that are interactive and standards-based. The focus is on real-world learning, with classes offered in financial literacy, STEM, social-emotional learning, health, and wellness,
9. Edutech for Teachers
A blog created and maintained by an instructional technology specialist based in Central Philadelphia. The site is dedicated to sharing innovative teaching strategies using digital media and the latest technology devices to engage students further and provide a millennial educational experience.
10. Library of Congress
The Library of Congress offers classroom materials and professional development to help teachers effectively use primary sources from the Library’s vast digital collections in their teaching.
11. National Gallery of Art
According to their website, the mission of the National Gallery of Art is to serve the USA in a national role by preserving, collecting, exhibiting, and fostering the understanding of works of art at the highest possible museum and scholarly standards.
12. National Geographic
Bring National Geographic to your classroom through lesson plans, maps, and reference resources.
13. The New York Times
Teach and learn with The Times. Articles and questions, writing prompts, and lesson plans coordinate with The New York Times Learning Network for teens. This site also provides access to professional growth resources and webinars for teachers and students’ activities.
14. Newsela
Newsela is a database of current events stories tailor-made for classroom use. Indexed by broad themes (e.g., War and Peace, Arts, Science, Health, Law, Money), stories are student-friendly and can be accessed in different formats by reading level.
15. NSTA
National Science Teachers Association promotes excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all. This site gives teachers access to NSTA magazines for students and teachers and lesson plans.
Students want to succeed and oftentimes the best way to help them do that is by creating an engaging, goal-oriented lesson plan. Get creative, tailor your lessons to your students, and always be learning yourself. If you feel stuck with your current teaching style, these resources are here to help! Did we miss any resources? What resources have you used to help your students succeed? Drop them in the comments!
