Curriki

By now, most of us are familiar with wikipedia - a shared website where we can all find and contribute to the information already provided. Curriki takes Wikipedia to a new level for educators. It's a place for teachers to find and share resources with other educators. Curriki offers an interface that is easy to navigate and filled with useful resources that can be used immediately in the classroom.



The homepage of Curriki features three important parts: the ability to find, contribute, and connect.

Finding will be the most immediately useful tool for those of us just entering the field of education. With an easily searchable interface, you can look for any resources that may help you in teaching a lesson or a unit. In quick searches through the lesson plans, I've found anything from a fifty minute plan to a four week unit of study. Depending on the author, these plans are full of information or consist of only the basics. Naturally, if you use this in your classroom, you can add to what already exists, helping to turn each plan into the most complete version that it can be.



Depending on what you are searching for, you can type in a search term or browse through different subjects. If you are looking for a Language Arts plan, you can see that there are already 2666 uploaded plans. Once you click on your subject, you can narrow it down by grade level, topic, instructional type, media type, and much much more. If you want a resource to use immediately in your classroom, Curriki is the place to go.

Once you implement your own lesson and unit plans in the classroom, you might stumble across an activity that you think worked perfectly. Are you ready to share this lesson with other educators so that their students can benefit as well? Simply click on the contribute icon, and you can upload your plan. If you don't already have it on your computer, Curriki will actually take you through the steps of creating your resource using their interface. Don't be afraid to contribute: you can add to (build up) other lessons to contribute more information or share your own so that other teachers have the opportunity to use your materials.

Connecting may not seem important to you now, but once you are in the classroom full-time, it is incredibly useful to have other teachers that you can go to for advice or resources. Curriki offers groups that you can join where you can collaborate on ideas, offer constructive feedback, or simply go to for support. Once you join Curriki, you can browse the groups until you find the one that would suit you best. You can view featured groups, browse groups by subject, and you can even create your own group. Don't underestimate the necessity of joining one of these groups -- it is always helpful to find like-minded people to support and who will support you.

Curriki has a lot to offer and it might seem overwhelming at first. Don't let that deter you from utilizing the amazing resources that this site has to offer. Curriki makes it easy to jump right in by offering a series of written and video tutorials that will help you on every step you take.