Thinkfinity: Professional Development Community

Are teachers asking for help incorporating the Common Core Standards into their classroom activities?

Start with Thinkfinity’s State Standards Search Engine. States that are in the process of adopting the Common Core Standards in Language Arts and Math can find those alignments by choosing their state’s name from the second state list in the pull-down menu. This filters for the specific alignments that will match their state’s version of the Common Core Standards.

Teachers in states not currently adopting these standards can still see alignments to the Common Core by choosing the first set in this list, the National Common Core option.

Guide teachers as they choose their grade level and either the Language Arts or Mathematics set of the Common Core and then submit their request. Notice how the next screen shows exactly what standards set they have chosen at the top and lists that standard’s subsets with clickable links at the right, indicating how many Thinkfinity resources are aligned to that standard set.

Choosing a set of results to view takes the teacher to a screen displaying each matching resource with a summary of its content and links directly out to the lesson, interactive, or related resource material. With those few steps they have located specific resources that will help their students achieve the Common Core goals.

Check out the slide set and handout designed to help teachers locate Common Core aligned resources.

Join our discussions to share your favorite resources for meeting the math or language arts Common Core Standards, or read what other teachers and trainers have found effective.

982 Views Permalink Tags: training, professional_development, coaching, mentoring, standards_alignment

Have you taken the Thinkfinity Community App for a test drive on your mobile device? It’s a great way to keep in touch with your colleagues, participate in groups and discussions, and check on resources that can support classroom instruction.

Now, have you considered sharing this tool in with others? It’s a perfect fit for an after-school in-service, or for a coaching or mentoring session with a colleague.

With so many people using mobile devices, this is a great time to show the educators you are working with how they can access, view activity and contribute to the community.

Begin by having them download the app for their device. Links to the Android App, as well as apps for the the iPhone and iPad can be accessed right here. Discuss the various icons and where users can find what they are looking for. At the present time it is not possible to save to Favorite Resources using the mobile app, but users can access those resources that they have already saved, as well as those of their friends. They simply click on the “My Stuff” option and choose Resources to see their own favorites, or select Friends to click on the name of a friend and then access their list of resources.

Using an app, it’s also possible to read and contribute to the various discussion topics currently available in any area of the Thinkfinity Community. Users can access their Communities and Groups by clicking on the Home icon, and then make their choice. For example, members of the group, “All About Science,” can go to that group and access a list of discussion topics or see the blog posts. To switch between these two options, click on the “More” option and check the radio button for either choice. When users click on “Save, they will be presented with the list of discussions or blog posts in that group. Now they can open and read any of them, and even post a reply right there. .

Be sure to point out the ability to Search quickly using the Mobile App. Simply click on the Search icon, and then enter a search term. You can choose to search within Content, Members, or Groups, making this a very versatile tool.

554 Views Permalink Tags: training, thinkfinity_community, mobile_device