SAS® Curriculum Pathways®

SAS® Curriculum Pathways® is a wonderful tool for 8th grade and high school students and teachers (I have used some of the activities for 6th and 7th grade also). Curriculum Pathways® is free for teachers and students throughout the United States. If you are in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School System, you can ask your Technology Facilitator for a Curriculum Pathways® login. All other teachers can click on the "Register for a subscription" link on the home page. All lessons within Curriculum Pathways® are based on state standards.

I attended a virtual conference with NCDLA (North Carolina Distance Learning Association) and one of the sessions was with Mrs. Deborah Gray from SAS® Curriculum Pathways®. She was talking about the Writing Reviser Toolbox within the English and  Communication Skills section. Now, before all other curriculum areas tune out, everyone has a writing component, and can use this resource.

The writing toolbox has many different components. A couple of these are Sentence Structure (Quick Launch # 943) and Strong Verbs (Quick Launch #1335). Sentence Structure will help students build stronger and clearer sentences within their reports. Strong Verbs looks at how often students use weak verbs and help them to change those into strong verbs. Students can view these on their own and email the teacher their finished work. Don't worry, student email accounts are not needed. Everything is stored on the Curriculum Pathways® server. If you don't have access to computers, you can show the whole class the lesson and print out the sheet for students to finish.

The interactivity Writing Reviser (Quick Launch #1242) allows students to copy and paste any document they have written. Once they have pasted the document into the reviser, students can see the word count, determine how many prepositional phrases they have, run on sentences, sentence fragments, etc. This could be a very powerful tool in helping students to revise their writing.

I copied this blog post into the Writing Reviser. There were some things that I needed to revise! Not only is the Writing Reviser a good tool for students, it is a good tool for everyone. By the way, did I mention that everything within Curriculum Pathways® is free for teachers? Be sure to go and check out this marvelous resource.

Check out the DIT Unplugged podcast for this week's episode (Episode 11) where we talk about Curriculum Pathways®

Image from Curriculum Pathways® homepage.

Choose Your Path

As with all things in life, there are choices we need to make – and a path we need to travel. Well… there is no exception with that statement in the classroom as well!

Check out these two “paths” and see if one or both will work for you/your students!

Curriculum Pathways:

• 8^th -12^th Grades
• Free Curriculum aligned to NC Standard Course of Study
• To create an account, contact your Technology Facilitator for the school login (After which, you can then create your own account login/password)
• Curriculum Pathways covers English, History, Science, Mathematics, Spanish and other searchable keyword topics
• 21^st Century Skills are integrated into the content!

Lesson Pathways:

• K – 5^th Grades
• Free Curriculum/Teaching Resources
• Lesson Pathways covers Science, History, Reading/Phonics, Math and Language Arts
• Create a free account online: http://www.lessonpathways.com/
• Browse the educational content: http://www.lessonpathways.com/Pathways/Featured
• Over 900 free lessons
• Includes links to videos, handouts/worksheets, online games, references, etc.
• Lesson Pathways was formerly offered by subscription only but is now 100% free

Standard Course of Study... in an instant!

The NC Standard Course of Study should always be in the forefront of your mind. Always. But, here in the 21^st Century, what can you do to immediately blend the SCOS with technology? Lots!

Check out these resources that align the NCSCOS with technological skills that are sure to engage your students instantly. Key word? Instantly.

netTrekker

What IS netTrekker? As defined by netTrekker, an online application that delivers digital content, organized by grade and reading level all aligned with the SCOS. Differentiated instruction tools are the key!

Watch a video about netTrekker from our very own Project Manager for Instructional Technology, Marlo Gaddis. Watch another video explaining netTrekker in comparison to Google. (This video is from a teacher’s perspective)

Curriculum Pathways

What IS Curriculum Pathways? As defined by SAS, Curriculum Pathways is an online resource for students and teachers. SAS Curriculum Pathways provides standards-based content in all the core disciplines, covering grades 8-14.

Watch an introduction video for Curriculum Pathways and get a great overview of what to expect when you log in.

Learn360

What IS Learn360? Streaming media that covers content from all areas of the K-12 curriculum. Example video resources are provided for teacher/student use from PBS, National Geographic, Standard Deviants, Slim Goodbody, and Sunburst Visual Media™, just to name a few.

Watch the demo for Learn360

Simply need access to the North Carolina Standard Course of Study Online? Take a look at these two sites.

http://www.ncpublicschools.org/curriculum/

http://www.learnnc.org/scos/

Only need access to a copy to print?

Question:

What is the goal in producing a technology rich curriculum?

Answer:

A learning yet interactive experience in which your students gain core knowledge, insight, new perspectives and new technological skills.

As you begin looking towards a brand new academic year… include netTrekker, Curriculum Pathways and Learn360 in your lesson plans! A learning yet interactive experience in which your students gain core knowledge, insight, new perspectives and new technological skills is sure to follow.