Teacher's Curriculum Institute

What makes a digital textbook interactive?  We think it’s more than a fun game or a flashy (not Flash!) banner.  It’s text that is accessible to students. It’s purposeful game-like challenges.  It’s opportunities to demonstrate knowledge.  Because we believe all of these ideas, we’re spending this spring improving our Student Subscriptions to bring students further [...]

“Game” doesn’t have to be a bad word in classrooms. Well executed, purposeful games can be an active way for students to process information. Games can also help students retain and recall information because, if done thoughtfuly, they can engage several multiple intelligences. Here are 8 games that you can use in virtually any subject [...]

Aaaaaaaaaa, so long July, hello August!  As a teacher, I have a love/hate relationship with August, but we must learn to work it out as we’re both here to stay. With that in mind, I happily begin thinking about how much I love my classroom.  It’s a place where my students thrive academically and socially.  [...]

About 25 years ago, my friend Bob predicted the e-book reader. One day we were having a spirited discussion about the future of books. Bob, a sales representative for a high-tech company, posited that the printed book would someday be available in electronic form. Coming from the perspective of an editor who had always developed [...]

Teachers are always looking for new and creative ways to get more involvement from the parents of their current students.  Often times we think of involvement as simply participation or support around field trips, class parties, or looking through their notebook or folder and checking their homework for completion.  If you are like me and [...]

Becky Suthers is a TCI Trainer and fifth-grade teacher in a small town in Texas. She has three students in her class: Bo, Shy and Cierra. Here she shares what they think about the Interactive Student Notebook.  Seems like this month is all about the Interactive Student Notebook (ISN) and there are many great ideas on [...]

You’re a genius. We know it. You know it. Now let the world know. Today we’re launching our PureGenius contest and asking teachers to submit their great ideas for ways to bring engaging technology classrooms without breaking the bank. Submissions that receive the most votes will receive a $100 prize and be entered into our grand [...]

Becky Suthers is a TCI Trainer and fifth-grade teacher in Texas where she has one of the smallest classes we’ve encountered. One thing I know for sure about teaching, it doesn’t really matter how many students I have in a class, it takes just as much time to prepare.  I am finding that the amount [...]

As teachers we often find that our students are drowning in the details of history and are unable to retain basic information. Without understanding some of the big ideas and concepts of  history, students have no way to connect information and organize events and other important details. TCI has created a great lesson that combats [...]

Nancy Bredin is our Director of Outreach and a former elementary classroom teacher. Do you have “it”?  I recently found out that apparently I have “it.”  A former student told me that I was her favorite teacher and more importantly shared that social studies became her favorite subject because of my class!  She recounted in [...]