Best Biographies for Teens, as Chosen by Educators
We love handing over an excellent biography or memoir to the young adult readers we know. There’s no better way to help them connect with history and take a walk in someone else’s shoes. Here are some of our favorite recent memoirs and biographies for teens. Just a heads up, WeAreTeachers may collect a share of sales from the links on this page. We only recommend items our team loves!
What Is Sociocultural Theory?
Sociocultural theory is an emerging theory in psychology that looks at the important contributions that society makes to individual development. This theory stresses the interaction between developing people and the culture in which they live. Sociocultural theory also suggests that human learning is largely a social process. An Introduction to Sociocultural Theory Sociocultural theory grew from the work of seminal psychologist Lev Vygotsky, who believed that parents, caregivers, peers, and the culture at large were responsible for developing higher-order functions. According to Vygotsky, learning has its basis in interacting with other people.
How Cultural Differences Influence Adolescent Development
The parents of adolescents have the main responsibility of teaching children ethics. Scholars of adolescent behavior and authors of "Family and Peer Influences on Adolescent Behavior and Risk-Taking," Nancy Gonzales and Kenneth Dodge, note that while much of adolescent development happens outside the home, the culture of the family instills upon children their developmental roots. Parents coming from difference cultures emphasize different value sets and therefore teach their children different moral standards. For example, because honesty is an important concept in the West, American parents urge their children not to lie, even in situations where lying would be beneficial. On the contrary, parents from East Asia tend to focus on creating a sense of both social and family harmony. These parents are more willing to overlook lies, provided those lies contribute to harmony, such as in white lies that avoid hurting others' feelings.
31 Amazing Sources for Free Teacher Resources
Teachers are always on the lookout for new inspiration and new ideas, but who’s got time to plow through the zillions of resources on the internet? Well, good news! We’ve done the research for you and here are 30 of our top sources for free teacher resources including lesson plans and activities created by fellow professional educators (marked with an asterisk). Happy hunting! 1. Amazon Inspire*
Ten Books to Recommend to Your Students
It’s time to start thinking about summer reading. Even if you are not interested in assigning projects for students to do during the summer vacation, it is essential to encourage your students to continue reading over the break. Or, you may just be looking for books to recommend to your students during the school year. Here are five books to suggest to your students for “just-for-fun” reading. This beautifully written novel will engage readers as they learn about a new culture, language, and religion.
ACT for Youth - Adolescence - Adolescent Identity Development
The development of a strong and stable sense of self is widely considered to be one of the central tasks of adolescence [1]. Despite the fact that identity development occurs throughout one's lifetime, adolescence is the first time that individuals begin to think about how our identity may affect our lives [2]. During adolescence, we are much more self-conscious about our changing identities than at any other stage in our lives [3]. Visit Toolkit: Identity Development for resources. Learn more about Adolescent Development. What is Identity?
Diversity Printables, Lessons, and Resources For Teachers
Teach students to respect differences among people in their community and around the world by using the resources below for elementary, intermediate, or high school students. You'll find printables that promote tolerance and understanding, and lessons about immigrant families. Art, reading, and writing activities will help familiarize students with the history and traditions of different religions and ethnic groups. Printables, Grades K-5 Use these printables to teach your students about the recipes, art and history of other cultures. These printables include puzzles, activities, teaching guides and more!
25 awesome apps for teachers, recommended by teachers
What are the best apps for teachers? We asked TED-Ed Innovative Educators and the TED-Ed community. Below, 25 awesome apps recommended for teachers, by teachers. For teaching students how to present, create and code TED-Ed More than 250,000 teachers use TED education tools to spark student curiosity and explore presentation literacy skills.
The Kids (Who Use Tech) Seem to Be All Right
Social media is linked to depression—or not. First-person shooter video games are good for cognition—or they encourage violence. Young people are either more connected—or more isolated than ever. Such are the conflicting messages about the effects of technology on children’s well-being.
Teaching Tolerance - Diversity, Equity and Justice
Educators today hear a lot about gaps in education – achievement gaps, funding gaps, school-readiness gaps. Still, there's another gap that often goes unexamined: the cultural gap between students and teachers. "A bunch of teachers here, they think they know what's wrong with us. But they don't know.
SmallWorld: 100 Not-Boring Writing Prompts for Middle- and High Schoolers
1. Attach an image (photo, magazine, etc.) to a notebook page and write about it. 2. What things will people in the future say about how we live now? (Examples: They ate that?
Adolescent Identity Development: What to Expect in Teens
Adolescent Identity Development: The Factors of Change Among the profound and exciting changes taking place in adolescence is the process of self-discovery. Our teens are working to figure out who they are, making adolescent identity development a central feature of teen life. Young people’s identities are shaped by lots of factors — family, cultural and societal expectations, experiences with institutions like school and the media, and friends.
Understanding how learners succeed and struggle across time, space, and social groups
It is not uncommon for children to thrive in one learning context but struggle in another. What accounts for such differences? The authors Bell, Tzou, Bricker, and Baines argue that we lack theory and research for understanding how people do and do not experience meaningful learning across formal and informal settings, over long time periods, and through various cultural value systems.
Teachinghistory.org
Question What is multiperspectivity in history? Answer Exploring multiple perspectives (which is known as "multiperspectivity" in parts of Europe) requires incorporating source materials that reflect different views of a historical event. In recent decades scholars and educators have begun to question the validity of singular (one-sided) historical narratives. Instead of just focusing on dominant groups and communities, they recommend employing multiple perspectives.
