As parents, we owe a debt of gratitude to our children’s school teachers. Think about it. While we are all hard at work in our regular offices, or now because of COVID-19, our home offices, our children’s school teachers are hard at work in their virtual or in-person classrooms, keeping watch over them and helping them grow through learning. It’s a big responsibility. And while teaching may seem like a thankless and low-paying job, the school teachers always seem to find a way to make it work because of their commitment to our children.

Evolving technology has changed many employment fields, and teaching is certainly no exception. Teachers need a way to manage their classrooms wherever that classroom may be, and many are turning to online technology to help them. Here are some of the top online resources for teachers.

Google Classroom

Google Classroom, used mainly in a primary education setting, is a learning management system (LMS) similar in function and scope to Canvas, a tool heavily used by colleges and universities. Like Canvas, Google Classroom allows teachers to develop and share their lessons with their students and help them grade assignments. There is a bit of setup involved, but Google Classroom is free for educational institutions.

The Library of Congress

The Library of Congress (LOC) lets educators tap into various primary research materials for their classrooms by providing free access to its large collection of digital resources. The general public also has free access to this digital material.

The National Gallery of Art

Teachers of Art will find the National Gallery of Art’s website especially helpful to their teaching efforts. The NGA, like the LOC, offers free resources to aid teachers in obtaining source material for their classes, and they even have a series of online courses in which the teachers can participate to better their teaching skills in various subject areas.

NASA

Teachers in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) disciplines can significantly benefit from using NASA’s dedicated STEM site for their classes. Like the other online resources for teachers mentioned earlier, access to this NASA educational resource is also free to educators at all levels.