Classroom Tools

Are you overwhelmed? You’ve come to right place! Here you can grab a lesson plan; exchange classroom tips; join an online community; improve your skills and knowledge; fund a project for your students; plan your Read Across America celebration; and get help with your first year of teaching.
Three Classroom Apps to Prioritize Your Day
As teachers, we juggle an exhausting schedule of parent conferences, administrative tasks, and specialized student needs. We take work home evenings and weekends and are often forced to choose between family and job. Here are some tools that energize teaching by making the rest of your life simpler. Read more
Online courses
The NEA Foundation courses are intended to develop collaborative skills and content knowledge. The courses promote union-district collaboration as a tool for systems change and were developed by field experts, using a rich selection of resources. Use the course content in whatever way best meets your needs – a whole course, a single session, or just an activity. New courses are in development and will be posted periodically. To start today, simply register and login!
Global Learning: tools and approaches
Curious how you can bring global competence to the classroom? This new course, designed for self-study or small groups, introduces participants to key ideas and methods for connecting their classrooms with the wider world.
Instant lesson plans
Stumped for a lesson plan? We can help. In addition to featured, calendar-based lesson plans, you can search by topic through the archives. Read more
Classroom tips
Works4Me offers hundreds of archived ideas for your classroom, searchable by keyword. Read more
Websites for teaching and learning
Websites for classroom resources or your own professional development. Read more
Celebrate and promote reading
NEA’s Read Across America is a national celebration of reading that takes place each year on or near March 2, the birthday of Dr. Seuss. Plan your local celebration now! Read more
Join NEA360, our online community
Exchange ideas, ask for advice, and share resources with more than 4,000 of your colleagues. Read more
Online learning: you choose the topic and the time
Online learning for your life through the NEA Academy: It’s quality professional development on your terms in real time. Read more
Make your dream come true with an NEA Foundation grant
The NEA Foundation offers Learning & Leadership Grants and Student Achievement Grants — $2000 for individuals, $5000 for group projects. Many TSTA members have funded projects for their students and for their own professional development through this great resource. Read more
Get help managing your classroom
Read classroom managerment tips, connect with your peers, and ask questions of a classroom expert at this site. Read more
Are you a first-year teacher?
Get a great start on your new career with our links and resources for first-year teachers. Read more
Professional resources
Find links to state agencies and governing boards, accountability, certification, and more here. Read more
Virtual Field Trips
Have you ever been spelunking? Virtual field trips give you and your students the opportunity to explore caves, visit museums, and even step inside the human heart using computers or downloading apps for mobile devices. Read more
Holocaust Remembrance Week
Senate Bill 1828 introduces a statewide Holocaust remembrance week, which the governor’s office has designated as the week of January 27, 2020. The bill requires the Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission to develop or vet materials for district use in Holocaust-related instruction during this week. The commission has approved all items listed on its website.
African American History Month
February is African American History Month. This web portal, a collaborative project of the Library of Congress and other similar groups, provides teacher and student resources as well as links to other resource-rich websites that support instruction on African American history.
Study the Constitution with Ease
The Library of Congress just launched a new website that assists with the teaching and learning of US constitutional law. With advanced search tools and modern, user-friendly interface, the site makes the 3,000 pages of the annotated Constitution fully searchable and accessible for the first time to online audiences, including teachers and students.