Teacher's Curriculum Institute

By Brian_ThomasTCI | View this Toon at ToonDoo | Create your own Toon

“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 area [...]

I am a huge fan of http://www.symbaloo.com/.  This website has allowed me to create a web interface of my favorite webtools similar to my iPad and Android phone.  Tiles that look like apps launch into my favorite web sites.  We’ve posted this in our TeacherGenius section.  I’ve updated the TCI Symbaloo to include some great [...]

It was about a half hour into my first period 8th grade class that my Nextel phone chirped.  I went over to look at it as the students were studying for a test I was going to give the next day.  It was my wife.  She was also an educator, working at a different school [...]

The interactive student notebook (ISN) has been around since the 1970s.  Like all great ideas, it is timeless.  Since ISNs are the heart of how students respond to TCI lessons, we have lots of tools that we use to teach how to create great notebooks.  These tools may be webinars (two in September alone), materials on our [...]

Dawn Smith and I had a chance to talk about what type of notebooks we like as teachers.  Hear 0ur coffee talk on whether consumables or having students create their own interactive student notebooks (ISN) is the better way to go.  The best part is, there is no one answer.  TCI gives you the tools [...]

I made the following interactive timeline for those attending the webinar on Wednesday, Sept. 7th (3:30 – 4:30 PST) on Getting Started with the ISN.  This interactive timeline was super-easy to make using the website, http://timetoast.com.  The site is free and allows you/students to create interactive timelines that can be viewed as linear or as [...]

A common challenge shared among teachers at all levels:
“I want my students to pair up in class, but it eats into my instructional time, and sometimes, my students don’t make good choices for a partner. Is there a better way?”
The answer is a resounding yes! Many teachers familiar with TCI materials use the Buddy [...]