| By Gale Staff |
The end of the summer season promises a chance for a fresh start but also signifies the preparation and hard work a successful school year demands. Parents navigate back-to-school shopping lists while eager students choose their first-day-of-school outfits. Administrators onboard new team members while staff clean and organize classrooms for the school year.
Teachers, in particular, embed care and effort into every aspect of their school year planning. We aspire to help educators and lighten their workload wherever possible with vetted lesson plans, technical solutions, user-friendly webinars, and built-in accessibility features. When your school is part of the Gale family, these classroom resources, professional development tools, and tech support are integrated into one seamless experience. To recognize the start of the new school year, we’d like to highlight the latest theme available through Gale’s Support site. Titled “2023 Back to School With Gale In Context,” this curated collection features content explicitly designed to kick off the school year.
Access Gale Products with One Click
Our Back-to-School collection begins with a one-stop shop for all 12 Gale In Context databases. Users can access their institution’s product portal with one click on the specific icon for each collection. Teachers can even embed these links into online lesson plans and syllabi so students know exactly how to navigate to the relevant Gale resources, even from their home devices. Compiling our products into one space makes it easier for students and teachers to access the resources they need to succeed.
Discover Ready-Made Lesson Plans
Rather than starting from scratch, take advantage of Gale In Context’s ready-made lesson plans, crafted with state-specific curricular guidelines in mind. The 2023 Back to School collection has dozens of prepared lesson plans spanning a range of topics and grade levels. Find resources for everything from environmental studies to basic science and history exercises. Integrate activities geared toward developing critical thinking, argumentative writing skills, and the ability to discuss complicated global issues. Plus, every lesson plan begins with a helpful summary, focus question, and a guide to its intended grade level, duration, and learning outcomes.
GIC_LessonPlan_FrackingAccelerate Learning with Hands-On Activities
To meet the needs of diverse learners, teachers know how to present information in different ways. Gale has developed supplemental activity guides to encourage your students to get hands-on with the material and apply lessons to real-world concepts. Have students complete fillable worksheets on relevant topics like vaccine research. Encourage the development of real-life competencies in financial literacy. Or guide students through a project on more in-depth issues, like the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine. After a long summer off, leverage Gale’s Back to School activity resources to spark curiosity and quickly re-engage your students.
Russia-Ukraine-Conflict-Student-Activity-UpdatedMaster Gale Features through Training
Whether you’re a first-time user or simply need a refresh, Gale’s 2023 Back to School collection includes a suite of training resources to get you up to speed. Individuals learn best through different delivery formats, so we’ve included a helpful collection of resource guides and recorded webinars. Many of our on-demand training videos are just 15 to 30 minutes long, allowing users to quickly brush up on the basics without a substantial time commitment. With Gale training resources, you can access broader webinars dedicated to overviews for a Gale product or dive into the nuances of a specific skill set. We’ve even selected a few specialized how-to tutorials to highlight essential Gale features like our innovative topic finder and accessibility customizations.
Guide Students with Helpful Tip Sheets
Find printable, step-by-step tip sheets so you and your students can quickly master the full capabilities of Gale databases. With these tools, users learn to leverage the advanced search functionality to identify the best results for their query. Additionally, you can take advantage of user-friendly product features like built-in citations and accessibility tools. You can even show students how to download and share materials from their personal devices. With tip sheets and tutorials, you can encourage students to learn independently and grow more confident in their research skills.
Have Fun with Themed Scavenger Hunts
Start the school year with one of our fun team-based escape room activities or scavenger hunts. Get students excited to learn and turn research skills into a game—and maybe even incentive these activities with a prize for those who finish first. With Gale’s Back to School scavenger hunts, students find answers to different topical questions based on whatever subject you choose. Featured themes include green energy, world history events, fake news on social media, and more. Our scavenger hunt model engages students with important information and guides users toward various types of resources, including primary sources, podcasts, and videos. Moreover, it helps them practice with some of Gale’s advanced search tools. These resources are easy to customize for your specific classroom needs and are available as printable hard copies or downloadable files for remote access.
The Gale In Context collection is much more than a research database. Our team is excited to provide a comprehensive, user-friendly, and accessible tool for students and teachers. Through our organized, themed resources, we aspire to create a foundation for authentic, long-lasting learning.
Let’s have the best school year ever! If your school or institution isn’t an active Gale subscriber, learn more by visiting our website.