I routinely receive questions about Academic Support and Organizational Coaching resources for parents and students. To help you and your student navigate these processes, my colleague Christianna Andrews has put together a list of tools and websites that will support you and your student’s work.

Organizational Coaching

• Cult of Pedagogy

  • Great educational resource featuring articles, podcasts, and videos that shed light on how we learn and what we can do to support effective learning in and out of the classroom

• Smart but Scattered Teens

  • Terrific book on how you can help your teen develop executive functioning skills

• The Learning Scientists

  • Comprised of cognitive psychologists who are interested in education, The Learning Scientists provide tools and resources that help you understand how you and your student learn

Academic Tutoring (by Subject)

English/Language Arts

• Flocabulary

  • Engaging videos that help students learn about academic vocabulary in a wide range of subjects

• Learning English: Prefixes and Suffixes

  • A great tool to help your student understand the difference between various prefixes and suffixes

• NAEYC: Read Together to Support Literacy

  • Provides a list of strategies on how to support reading in younger children

• Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)

  • Popular website for helping writers identify style conventions for various forms of academic writing (e.g., APA, MLA, Chicago)

• Reading Rockets

  • A comprehensive website featuring articles and resources from world-leading experts in differentiation and literacy instruction

• SEDL

  • Provides a list of reading activities that are differentiated based on reading ability and cognitive development

• Strategies for Cultivating a Love of Reading at Home 

  • Provides tips and suggestions for how to foster a love of reading in younger children at-home

History

• Center for Civic Education

  • Teacher-authored resource on how to help students connect with Civics in fun and tangible ways

• Facing History and Ourselves

  • List of resources on pressing sociopolitical topics in US History

• Foundation for Teaching Economics

  • Educational resource on helping students think about their surrounding worlds through an economics lens

• Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

  • Popular US History website with links to resources regarding key events in US History

  • Great tool for students preparing for the AP US History exam

• National Archives

  • Comprehensive list of U.S.-based archival material

• National Constitution Center

  • Comprehensive interactive resources on the writing and ratification of the US Constitution

• National Council on Economics Education

  • Free resources and learning modules on key topics in Economics education for K-12 students

• National Park Service

  • Lesson plans, field guides, and other activities that are aimed at helping students connect with the science and history of America’s National Parks

• Teaching Tolerance 

  • Great for addressing “tough to teach” subjects

• TIME for Kids

  • Weekly magazine targeted at providing articles on current events at different reading levels

Math

• Complex Instruction

  • Offers tools and resources for how to the employ the Complex Instruction approach to teaching mathematics

• Dan Meyer’s Three-Act Math Tasks

  • Provides a very comprehensive archive of Common Core-aligned math activities that employ a three-act structure to solving problems

• Estimation 180

  • Includes lessons and activities for students in Grades 4-8, along with resources for educators 

• Fraction Talks

  • Offers tools and resources to help students approach and understand fractions

• Inquiry Maths

  • Provides a teaching model that encourages student self-regulation and exploration of mathematical statements and prompts 

• Khan Academy

  • A comprehensive website with courses that are broken down by grade and content

• Math Mistakes

  • Explores common math mistakes commonly made by students (organized by Common Core standard and content) with an analysis and discussion of the math errors

• Math Playground Virtual Manipulatives

  • Math games and activities aimed at helping K-6 students understand different math concepts

• National Library of Virtual Manipulatives

  • A National Science Foundation-supported tool that helps students create visual representations of math concepts

• Nix the Tricks

  • A great tool to help you and your student understand Common Core math concepts

• Number Strings

  • Provides "number strings" (a set of related math problems) for elementary math concepts up through Algebra I

• Reason and Wonder

  • Provides explanations and real world applications of math concepts