CTA’s Lesson Plan Share Center on the new www.cta.org is a great place for teachers to share exclusive curriculum with one another, rate and write reviews on the curriculum, and join in discussions on the most talked-about and effective lesson plans being used by CTA members. The plans in the center, created by educators for educators, were designed to assist members in sharing and developing new, interesting curriculum.
South Tahoe Educators Association member Krissi Russell uses the Lesson Plan Share Center and finds it an excellent way for members to connect easily and share knowledge.
“The share center is fabulous,” says Russell. “I think it’s a great way to provide lessons and access to teachers for making their job easier.”
Russell, a Spanish teacher at South Lake Tahoe Middle School, was inspired to create lesson plans and share them at www.cta.org after she wrote a book about animal safety called In the Meadow (Don’t Feed Our Bears).
It all started about five years ago when her son Caleb was selling lemonade in front of their house one summer day. “I walked out onto the porch, and there was something big walking toward my son,” recalls Russell. “It was a bear walking down the street within 10 feet of my son.”
The bear ignored the lemonade stand and ambled into a neighbor’s yard, where it pulled down a bird feeder and helped itself to some birdseed. After that, Russell wrote a song about the incident, which later became her book, a lesson on the importance of not feeding wild animals. Russell saw the potential for using the song as a tool to educate the public about the importance of keeping wildlife wild. She sang her song at campgrounds and in schools and around the community.
“I guess the teacher in me decided I had to educate people about this,” says Russell. “When wild animals find easy food in the form of garbage, pet food, birdseed or food left out for them, they become lazy about looking for their own.”
She then created interactive K-3 lesson plans with grade level specific extension activities, aligned with content standards, to teach environmental lessons. She has uploaded some of her lessons to the Lesson Plan Share Center for other members to use.
CTA seeks to improve student learning by making this center available exclusively to members for sharing and integrating Web-based lessons into instructional practice.
To view the great selection of lesson plans available, visit www.cta.org/Professional-Development/Lesson-Plan-Share-Center. Choose from different grade level blocks, K-12, or browse all the lesson plans for subjects or curriculum materials of interest.
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