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Open Your Favorite Lesson Resources in a FLASH!

Bryan

There are so many free online resources with amazing content that teachers can use for their lessons.  Just check out my Ready, Set, Steal – 5 Places to get Ready-made Resources slide presentation for a few.  When I’m developing a lesson, it’s such a pain opening a bunch of tabs individually from my bookmarks.

Make a “Lesson Resources” folder

Wouldn’t it be great to have a folder that allowed you to open all of your resources at once?  Simply follow this short video tutorial and learn how.

 

Here are the steps if you prefer reading them.  But first, make sure you are signed into Google Chrome with the appropriate account.

  1. Go to the lesson resource, like Quizlet.
  2. Click on the little star at the end of the omnibox to bookmark it.
  3. Rename the bookmark so that the title isn’t too long.
  4. Click on the dropdown arrow next to the “Folder” box and select “Choose another folder”
  5. Make sure the “Bookmarks bar” is selected.
  6. Click “New folder” at the bottom-left corner.
  7. Name your folder something like “Lesson Resources” and click “Save”
  8. Go to the next lesson resource, like Kahoot!
  9. Click on the little star again.  The bookmark should be placed in the same folder you created in steps 4 and 5, so click “Done”.

Open Your Lesson Resources at once

Watch below to see how to open your lesson resources all at once using the folder you just created.  Start by opening a new Google Chrome window (Ctrl+N)

Here are the steps in words.

  1. Right-click on your “Lesson Resources” folder.
  2. Select “Open all (#)” to open the websites in separate tabs. The # will equal the number of bookmarks within the folder.  For example, “Open all (12)” means 12 tabs will open.

That’s it!

Use this trick to access sets of websites that you use frequently in an efficient way.  I use my resources folder when I’m planning a lesson because I can search for high quality content from all of my favorite places!

Here is a list of the websites inside the folder

  • Quizlet – Online flashcards, interactive games, interactive diagrams, and Quizlet Live collaborative game.
  • PlayPosit – Videos integrated with questions, nice data, searchable database of resources, user-friendly.
  • Twitter – Search your topic. Teachers post resources all the time here.
  • YouTube – Amazing content for every subject and level.
  • Google – Search for Google Slides, Docs, Sheets, Drawings, PowerPoints, pdfs and more on your topic.
  • TED-Ed – Amazing information taught with the help of engaging animations.  Lesson hooks galore.
  • DefinedSTEM – Paid service.  Inquiry-based/project-based STEM lessons.
  • Gizmos (ExploreLearning) – Paid service.  Math and science simulations and lesson resources.
  • Flipgrid – Video response platform.  Definitely catching fire lately.  Students respond to prompts with short videos that everyone can view.
  • Robert Kaplinsky’s Lessons – Creative, critical thinking tasks that will raise the DOK (Depth of Knowledge) level of your lesson.
  • YouCubed Tasks – @joboaler — author of Mathematical Mindsets offers accessible, but challenging tasks to develop conceptual understanding.
  • EdPuzzle – Videos integrated with questions.  Great database of pre-made interactive videos.  Get data too.
  • @TsGiveTs Hyperdoc Twitter Search – search for Hyperdocs.  Example below.

Did I miss a great resource in this list?  Please let me know by adding a comment below.