NewseumED

Free!

NewseumEd is a comprehensive website dedicated to providing key background information related to current events.  After registering, users can navigate the website using the buttons on the left of the screen. The “ED Tools” button provides users with access to a variety of documents (e.g., units and lessons, activities and questions, case studies, artifacts, timelines, maps, and quizzes). These documents can be sorted by topic, theme, century, state, grade level, and format (e.g., online, in the classroom, or at Newseum). Once sorted, users can click a document to access it.

The “ED Classes & Training” button provides instant access to online courses. Users can browse the courses by title and standards, or they can sort them by intended audience (e.g., Students, Educators, and Professionals). The “ED Collections” button provides users with primary resources about a variety of topics (e.g., elections, Civil Rights, Women’s Rights, 9/11). Users can explore the resources to learn more about the topics. The “ED Ideas” button includes lesson plans, professional development, and other course materials. Teacher users can bring into their classroom to support their teaching about a specific topic.

Instructional Ideas for NewseumED

1. When planning a lesson about a historical topic, teachers can browse the “ED Tools” section of this website to locate materials that can enrich their instruction. To do so, teachers can use the “Filter & Search” tool to help them locate the information. Once materials of interest are found, teachers can click them to learn about the materials and gather ideas for using them.
2. For their own professional development, teachers can click the “ED Classes & Training” button to access courses about a variety of topics that they can complete. After taking a course, teachers can bring that knowledge into lessons they currently lead about that topic.
3. As an independent learning activity, teachers can have students choose a course from the “ED Classes & Training” section of this website. Students can then complete the course independently and then present the information they learned from the lesson to the class. Students can share that information in a whole group presentation, in small groups, or by posting it to a class website.
4. To freshen their instruction, teachers can click the “ED Ideas” section of the website to read about topics of interest. After reading about a topic, teachers can plan instruction that brings that topic into their classroom.
5. Teachers can have their students visit the “ED Collections” section of the website. Next, they can have students pick a topic of interest and explore the information the website provides about it. When finished, teachers can have students share that information by making an infographic using Smore, presentation using Biteable, movie using Kizoa, or some other document that can be uploaded to a class website and viewed by their classmates. That way, students will be able to share their learning. Teachers can then have classmates choose a new topic based on their classmates’ work and repeat the cycle.

Screenshots of NewseumED