A few of my favorite resources…

3.06.11 By Kati Delahanty

In the five years since I finished my residency year, I have often pined for the collaborative feel of my BTR experience. In my ELA content course, I worked very closely with some incredible English teachers whom I knew I could always rely on for both inspiration and pragmatic (here-try-this-strategy) support. I was lucky, too, to work right next door to my mentor for three of those years. But I still miss how easy it was to reach out to my people for resources.

So, I am constantly looking for online teaching communities and resources on the web that will help me feel connected again. Also, sometimes I just need good “stuff” to supplement my lessons.

I thought I would share a few of the really helpful ones I’ve found over the years in case you feel like I do…

1.) Edutopia: What Works in Education—The George Lucas Educational Foundation
    http://www.edutopia.org

This is a FREE-to-join online community of educators that I have found thorough, inspirational, and helpful. They have interesting and relevant blogs to follow, they highlight public schools “that work” all over the country, they offer free and informative webinars to all members, and they have a ton of groups that you can join. They have a group for EVERYTHING—classroom management, middle school teachers, special educators, assessment, new teachers, elementary school, high school, project-based learning, integrating technology, etc.

I moderate the SEL (Social Emotional Learning) group on their website. SEL is something I’m really fired-up about, and I have loved learning from educators, parents, and administrators all over the world who have ideas, concerns, and opinions about SEL’s role and place in schools and in education. I encourage you to join if this is something you are thinking about too!

2.) TED: ted talks:
    http://www.ted.org
Their tag line is: Riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world! I love this website. I have found a lot of fascinating lectures/demonstrations on here and the site isn’t blocked by BPS! Check this out! It will definitely make your lessons more engaging.

3.) English Companion:
    http://www.englishcompanion.ning.com
This is “where English teachers go to help each other.” I love this website because I can type any topic (Socratic seminar, good descriptive texts, debate) into the search bar, and I can find resources that other English teachers have uploaded; and I can use them for FREE. This is what teaching should look like: teachers making their resources available to other teachers. I have found really well-designed curriculum on this site, and I have found resources that don’t make much sense to me, but either way the site is free, easy to navigate, and available 24 hours a day!

4.) The Boston Debate League:
    http://www.bostondebate.org
I recently started crafting my first debate unit, and this website has been HUGELY helpful. They have lesson plans from Boston teachers and resource guides. I’ve found it very informative!

5.) The Boston Writing Project:
    http://www.bostonwritingproject.org
This is an invaluable resource—to be sure—but it’s more an opportunity. I’m including this organization, which is an affiliate of the National Writing Project, in this list because it’s been one of the most transformative professional development experiences I’ve been a part of, and the only other organization I’ve been involved with since BTR that has given me the true cohort and collaborative feel.  I was a fellow last summer along with BTR grads Amy Gonzalez and Chima Ikonne, and I can’t tell you how much the work we did over the summer has influenced my curriculum and learning goals for this entire year.

I know many other BTR grads have participated in the Boston Writing Project’s Invitational Summer Institute and are now teacher consultants, and I encourage you to check out the program. They are accepting applications now! IT’S NOT JUST FOR ENGLISH TEACHERS!!
http://www.bostonwritingproject.org/2011/invitational-summer-institute

I wanted to mention these resources because I am feeling especially grateful today. Teaching is HARD (especially on Sundays!), and I love that there are organizations out there who believe in our work and try, every day, to lessen our load!

There are many other resources and online communities that I have joined and use frequently, but I am running out of time to list them. Charlestown High’s boy’s basketball team is competing in the state championships today, and this fan has got to head over and secure a seat in the gym…