Free education is becoming more of a reality for people around the world. In fact, some countries even offer tuition-free degrees. These programs are a great way to get a high-quality education without having to pay for it.
This free site offers tons of resources for teaching the humanities. Lessons, printables, and more are available for teachers of all grades.
EVERFI
EVERFI empowers educators to bring real-world learning into the classroom. Its 100+ self-paced lessons teach students skills for success in life, including financial education, career prep, digital citizenship and social & emotional learning (SEL). Thanks to the support of partners, EVERFI provides its curriculum, training, and support at no cost to teachers, districts, and families.
The platform also teaches students how to use a credit card and to build savings. It also has a lesson on the effects of racial prejudice, which teachers can use to encourage students to talk to their parents or caregivers about their experiences. This can help them gain context that makes the lessons more meaningful, but it’s important to make sure that these discussions don’t make adults feel uncomfortable.
EVERFI has a unique approach to social impact and a strong team of thought leaders, and this has been recognized by leading publications, such as Fast Company, Forbes, and Popsugar. It has also received numerous awards for its social impact work, including an ISTE Seal of Alignment in 2023.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is a provider of education content and technology platforms. Its products include textbooks, digital courseware, and educational assessment. The company also publishes reference works and nonfiction. Its catalog includes literary works by Ursula K. Le Guin, Theodora Kroeber, and Nicolas Sidjakov. In addition, it produces computer video games and has a franchise called Carmen Sandiego.
In its early years, Houghton Mifflin was a major trade publisher of books. It also published standardized tests and worked closely with test developers such as E. F. Lindquist. Its business expanded rapidly, and in 1908 the firm became a incorporated company.
The company’s business continued to expand through acquisitions and divestitures. In 2008, it froze the purchase of new titles in its trade division. The move was widely viewed as a blunder and led to the resignation of the publisher of its trade division.
In March 2010, Houghton Mifflin announced a major debt restructuring. The company’s debt level was reduced by 60% and its annual interest payments were cut by over 75%. The restructuring benefited the investors of EMPG, an Irish-based holding company that previously held Houghton Mifflin Riverdeep and Harcourt Publishing. These investors lost their original investments but were left with warrants over 5% of the company’s value.
Jumpstart
Jumpstart is a national education organization that aims to help children from low-income communities develop the language and literacy skills needed to succeed in school. The organization recruits and trains college students, called Corps members, to partner with preschool children in their communities. These students take service-learning courses while they are working in the classrooms with the children.
The curriculum is based on research that supports the relationships between children and caring adults, as well as the importance of fostering social-emotional development. Jumpstart also believes that it is critical for adults to be trained in techniques that can maximize the impact of their time with children. Jumpstart sessions are carefully planned and include learning activities for all children.
Jumpstart lesson planning models are effective because they use a variety of teaching tools to capture students’ attention and encourage them to interact with the material. Each lesson is structured into chunks that include a connection activity, content activity, practice activity, and summary activity. This is the perfect way to engage students and make learning more exciting and active.
PhET
PhET is a free, research-based interactive simulation tool that teachers can use to help students learn science and math concepts. The simulations are developed using education research, focusing on what works with students to engage them in authentic scientific practices and develop their identities as scientists.
The sims are designed to allow students to discover cause-effect relationships and build a deep conceptual understanding of science through their intuitive, game-like environments. They can also use the sims to practice skills like measurement and data analysis. For example, the physics sims let them experiment with the properties of different objects. They can compare the area of a circle to its perimeter, for example.
The PhET app allows students to access all of the HTML5 simulations from the site on their smartphones and tablets. It features an easy sorting system and supports multiple languages. It also allows offline play, which makes it perfect for learning on the bus or at the park without an internet connection. It is available on iOS and Android devices, as well as the Chrome web browser.
Scholastic
The Scholastic Literacy Partners program provides books, reading materials, and other resources to children in need. Participating organizations include schools, non-profits, state agencies, and community groups. They can distribute the books to children and their families for free. They can also provide literacy curriculum, classroom magazines, and professional learning services.
Scholastic began as a western Pennsylvania high school newspaper in 1920. Its popularity and profits grew in the post-World War II period. However, it faced controversy in the late 1940s and 1950s over the political views of its publications. In 1948, for example, the city of Birmingham banned the publication because of its support of racial equality.
The company expanded in 1998 by purchasing the assets of Pages Book Fairs and acquiring QED, an education data firm. This allowed the company to improve its marketing muscle and develop new products to improve literacy. The company’s mission is to “Open a World of Possibilities” for all children by providing quality educational products and services that entertain, inspire, and motivate young readers. Its books feature topics that range from science and social studies to sports and art.
NCTE
NCTE, full form of National Council for Teacher Education, is a central body that manages the development of the teaching system and also provides the minimum qualifications for an individual to become an educator in schools and colleges. It also conducts research and studies on all elements of educators’ education and broadcasts the results.
Educators can access a host of resources and tools from NCTE’s website, including standards-based lessons, videos, and online tools that are designed for students of all abilities. The site also has a wealth of professional literature and advice for teachers. In addition, teachers can find support for issues related to intellectual freedom at the NCTE’s Intellectual Freedom Center.
Moreover, NCTE hosts discussion boards on its website that are open to the public. However, the organization does not necessarily endorse or support any statements that appear on these forums. It also does not endorse any non-NCTE websites that may be accessed through these links. Additionally, NCTE does not guarantee that these non-NCTE websites are free of viruses, worms, trojan horses, or any other items that could damage your computer.
SchoolTube
SchoolTube is a free program that allows teachers to upload videos to share with their students. It is similar to YouTube, but it has more educational content and fewer distractions. This website also filters out videos with bad language or disrespectful images. It can be used in many different classrooms, from kindergarten to 10th grade.
SchoolTube is an online video community that was created by a father and son team in St. Louis. It offers a safe environment to share student and teacher work and pass through strict school firewalls.
The platform provides COPPA and ADA-compliant video creation, hosting, sharing and distance learning solutions for schools. Teachers and students can create channels and playlists, add English captions and use the analytics dashboard to track video views and engagement.
Schools can use SchoolTube to host teaching videos, daily announcements and training videos. It can also be used by school administrators to create and share communications and marketing videos. To get started, teachers can create a SchoolTube account through GG4L’s School Passport.
Epic!
Epic is a subscription-based reading and learning app that provides students with a treasure trove of books, audiobooks, and learning videos. The app is designed to help students discover and build their own library of books, track their progress, and create a love for reading. Parents and teachers can also use Epic to track student learning.
Epic’s collection of books is vast, and students can access it on any device. It allows users to search for titles by subject, age, or genre. It is also possible to filter books by reading level, language, and whether or not they contain a quiz.
Additionally, the app offers read-alongs that feature animated stories with word highlighting to strengthen the link between visual word recognition and pronunciation. This makes it a good option for parents of pre-reading children.
Another benefit of Epic is that many books can be downloaded for offline reading. This is a great feature, especially if you’re traveling to areas where Wi-Fi signals are scarce. This makes the app an excellent choice for classrooms on the go.
