Whether or not you decide to attempt to speak in iambic pentameter meter today, consider the Bard and his contributions to the beautiful English language on this April 23rd, 2012.

Here are a few resources you can use in lessons that introduce Shakespeare's life:

Lesson: Who Was Shakespeare (9th grade ELA)

Resource: Shakespeare's Bio (AP English)

Resource: Intro to Shakespeare (9th grade ELA)

Resource: Shakespeare Background Slideshow (10th grade ELA)

And for those teachers willing to indulge in the 140-characters-or-less/T9-spell-check reality of today's communication modes, here's a fun activity for practicing Shakespearean language in Instant Message (IM) format:

Activity: Rewrite a Shakespearean Dialogue as It Would Go Down Today (Text or IM) (OMG) 

We're back for a third installment of great courses and units from members of the BetterLesson community. The inaugural post post pulled together courses for middle school math teachers and the most recent collected resources for middle school ELA teachers. If this is your first time viewing one of these posts, we built these based on feedback from you. Teachers have bookmarked these courses and units, shared them with others, and told us how helpful they have been to their own teaching. So we are putting them all in one place. We'll be updating these posts periodically with new additions and bringing back courses and units that we've featured in the past. Look forward to collections across the core content areas in elementary school and high school too. Enjoy!

5th Grade Science by Lorin King. This course includes the following units: Earth Science, Physical Science, and Experimeint / Investigation Methods.

6th Grade Science by David Kujawski. This course includes the following units: Scientific Inquiry;Energy; Technology and Engineering; Environmental Science; Miscellaneous Lessons; Meteorology; and Geology. 

6th Grade Earth Science by Renee Belisle. This course includes the following units: Scientific Methodology; Rocks, Gems, Minerals; Earth's Movements; Weathering and Erosion; Earthly Time, Fuels, and Energy; Fresh Water; Oceans; Atmosphere; Weather; and Astronomy.

7th Grade Science by Daniel Randolph. This course includes the following units: Intro to Science; Human Biology; Rocks and Minerals; Dynamic Earth; and Matter and Energy.

7th Grade Earth Science by Cristina Lopez. This course includes the following units: Earth Structure; Plate Tectonics; Mineralogy; and Petrology.

8th Grade Life Science by Rachel Ryland. This course includes the following units: Scientific Method and Characteristics of Living Things; Cells; Human Body Systems; Cell Cycle and Division; Heredity and Genetics; and Evolution.

Year 8 Physics (8th Grade in the U.S.) by Katherine Richard. This course includes the following units: Atomic Theory, Pressure, Heat Energy Transfer, Static Electricity, Magnetism, Sound, Earth and Space, Revision Material, and Exam Material.

Let us know what you think of this and future collections by commenting below, posting to our Facebook page, or tweeting at us. You can also always find us atfeedback@betterlesson.com.

Welcome to our first blog post featuring great courses and units from members of the BetterLesson community. Teachers have bookmarked these courses, shared them with others, and told us how helpful they have been to their own teaching. Same with units. So we are putting them all in one place. We'll be both updating this post periodically with new additions and bringing back courses and units that we've featured in the past. Look forward to collections across the core content aras in elementary, middle, and high school. Enjoy!

5th Grade Math Problem Solving by Kurt Sarsfield. This course includes the following units: Geometry, Number Sense, Percents, Whole Number Operations, Probability, and Decimals.

6th Grade Math Procedures by Jason Armstrong. This course includes the following units: Whole Numbers, Decimals, Fractions, Percents, Geometry, Extensions and Review, Assessments, and Daily Activity. 

6th Grade Math by Tamara Shear. This course includes the following units: Smooth Operators (Integers/Order of Operations), What does the data say? (Data analysis, Data Representation, and Graphs), Fractions and Decimals, and Proportions and Probability.

6th Grade Math by Kaiulani Ivory. This course includes the following units: Orders of Operations, Exponents, Rounding, Integers, Data Analysis/Statistics, Number Theory, Fractions, Decimals, and Percents, Fraction Computation, Decimal Computation, Percent Computation, Linear Relationships, Finding the Unknown, Geometry, and Probability.

7th Grade Pre-Algebra by Betsy Peterson. This course includes the following units: Number Sense, Algebraic Concepts, Geometry, Functions, Algebra Preview, and a Monument Project.

7th Grade Math by Jennifer Wells. This course includes the following units: Working with Percents, Solving 1-Variable Equations, Probability, Ratios and Proportions, Number Sense, Geometry, Linear Equations, Graphs and Statistics, Computation, Solving Inequalities, and Systems of Equations.

7th Grade Pre-Algebra by Kristin Squires. This course includes the following units: Integers and Algebraic Expressions, Writing and Solving One-Step Equations, Factors, Estimation, Measurement, Fractions, Percents, Proportional Reasoning, Multi-Step Equations and Probability, Geometry and Data Analysis, Triangle Geometry, Linear Equations, and Polynomials.

8th Grade Math: Algebra by Ryan Hall. This course includes the following units: Unit Language and Tools of Algebra, Unit Angle Relationships, Solving Equations, Functions and Patterns, Analyzing Linear Functions, Systems of Equations, Inequalities, Polynomials, Factoring, Quadratics, and Statistics and Probability.

Let us know what you think of this and future collections by commenting below, posting to our Facebook page, or tweeting at us.  You can also always find us at feedback@betterlesson.com. Have a great mid-semester break, whatever you celebrate and whatever you do.

As deadlines loom for SAT testing, we thought it'd be a good time to highlight some test prep materials surfacing on BetterLesson.

A course from A-List Education includes 20 clever and catchy vocabulary videos with supplementary resources. Here's a screenshot from one clip and their sagacious approach to teaching viewers challenging SAT and GRE words:

(Here's the link to the video: Sagacious: insightful, wise.)

Another test prep resource comes from a High School English/Language Arts teacher, who has posted a great unit designed around both reading and test-taking strategies for the SAT Reading section. Here's the unit plan: SAT Reading Lessons. (Jump to the Course page "High School Fridays 2009 -­ 2010" to see all the resources.)

A BetterLesson Fellow who teaches ELA has developed a unit that includes seven lessons on 3rd grade test preprartion. Lesson 3 — Tricky Questions and Answers — includes a handy checklist for students evaluating why they incorrectly answered questions.

Finally, a middle school ELA teacher from Indiana posted a handy preparation and practice guide for students gearing up for an essay test. While the packet is designed around a book you're unlikely to also be teaching, the principles are universal: brainstorming, outlining and practice, practice, practice.

Check them out! And let us know if you've found a handy test prep resource and used it in your curriclum.