Teacher's Curriculum Institute

This voicethread includes voices of teachers who used the Problem-Solving Groupwork strategy by TCI to get the most out of project-based learning.  If this is the first time you have ever encountered a voicethread, just click the arrow in the lower-right to advance.  Each voice will be heard in turn.  The first is a prompt, [...]

  Consider the launch dates for the most widely used social media sites in the past ten years.  We begin in 2001 with the launch of Wikipedia, which became a destination site for many students as they research topics.  Of course the challenges would come because of how posts can be edited by the audience [...]

The focus of this year’s Leadership Conference was technology. But not just technology for technology’s sake. In fact, I began the conference with a keynote challenge asking participants: “Can technology create true interactivity in your classroom?” My fear is that technology may be making students less prone to true, deep learning.  I quoted a New [...]

On Sunday, 250 teachers and administrators will arrive here in northern California for TCI’s 2010 Leadership Conference. We affectionately refer to the conference as the “crown jewel” of our events. This year is no exception. Conference participants have more than 80 enrichment sessions to choose from that offer content ranging from introductory sessions for beginners to more [...]

I’m loving this website lately!  www.classtools.net You can quickly create fun, simple review games for vocabulary and to test basic content in a unit. Select the template “Game Generator,” enter your vocab or content questions, and then the website creates a game for you (using Flash).  Save the URL or embed the game into your blog, wiki, or class [...]

I joined TCI in early 1993 when the company was in its infancy. We were churning out thick binders loaded with supplemental activities and slides. Remember slides? One of the early milestones was the publication of our methodology book, History Alive!, by Addison Wesley. At the publication party, our founder, Bert Bower, presented us with [...]

I rarely read the San Francisco Chronicle. However, I happened to be in the Bay Area this weekend and picked up the paper while eating breakfast at a cafe (yes, the print paper!) Much to my husbands displeasure, I couldn’t put this article down once I started reading it. The article, Tech’s Big Three creating bold [...]

It’s more than just virtual field trips! As we all strive to create model 21st Century Classrooms conducive to learning in a digital age, more and more teachers are turning to distance learning models for a variety of lessons and activities.  Living in a college town with a great teacher ed program, I have the [...]

  Do you allow you students to carry cell phones to class? Do you incorporate the use of cell phones into your daily teaching practice? If you answered no you may be missing out on some relatively cheap and easy ways to engage students through the use of technology and the internet. As technology develops [...]