Be an Organized Teacher! Try NextLesson.org

If you don't like reinventing the wheel when it comes to lesson planning...NextLesson is for you! 

The "About Us" link has this to say about their content...
NextLesson is the go-to place for Common Core projects, lessons and simulations. Our mission is teachers prepare students for the real world by offering engaging, rigorous and relevant content along with cool interactive instructional tools. Started by parents, guided by teachers, built for students. We hope to build a better tomorrow by working on one simple, driving question, "How can we prepare students for the real world?”

Grade level specific lessons can be found for ELA, Math, Science, and History.  You can even search with their Common Core Browser for ELA, Math or Science Standards.  A lot of them are free to download, others are purchased with "tickets". 

You can access this resource through the direct link http://www.nextlesson.org

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You can also access NextLesson through Edmodo.  The free app on Edmodo is called 500+Projects & Lessons, or you can use the paid version (unlimited) NextLesson Complete.  I am currently using the free version through Edmodo so I can assign lessons to my students easily.  I haven't played with it much as an assignment since I am a special education teacher, I've only used it (so far) as a guided lesson as a group. 

Why use this resource for you lesson plans?
Well, it's like a visual map through your lesson that you and the kids can see together.  We all have to state our objectives before we start a lesson and summarize once we have finished, right?  This is one way to stay on track, have all your resources in one place, add or change resources as you go, all without fumbling through stacks of paper or sticky-notes.  It keeps you organized!  

Since I'm not a NextLesson expert by any means, I'll leave you with this little teaser.  
My thought is that it would be a great way to create lessons that you can change and share as you go and use it again the next school year.  Summer planning (which you know you do) would be a great time to play and create lessons to start your year off on the right foot!   You can sign up for a free trial and use one of the already created lessons to check it out, or you can create your own to really see how it works.  

I wish you luck and I hope this has been helpful!  

If you find anything really useful about Nextlesson.org, please share it with us.  I found this useful 
YouTube "how to" video for the free Edmodo version that I've been using.

Nicertube

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