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It’s getting cold out there, but that doesn’t mean Instructify is freezing over. Here are some educational lists to keep you nice and warm.

21 Online Student Tools to Help With Research, Communication, and Organization - EduChoices brings us this list of some essential tools to aide in researching and staying on top of things. Your students probably need all the help they can get at this point in the year, as the thought of holiday breaks are distracting them left and right. Check out Grademate for your own grade organization as well as Studeous for online course management.

75 Questions to Ask Yourself - Did I leave the iron on?  might be at the top of your list, but for some more insightful self-queries, check out this list from Lyved. Your students might not consider themselves masters of their own egos yet, but some of the questions on this list might help them get some direction in getting there. Questions like What are my talents? might seem easy enough, but provide some inner understanding nonetheless.

Help Your Children Set Goals for Success - Top Ten Tips - These tips, designed for parents, are applicable for teacher use, too, but if you want to share some with parents, then by all means, I say go for it. One of the more important tips here is to set achievable goals, because Goals need to be set at a level that is more advanced than the level the child is currently working at, but not so advanced that it is unachievable or beyond reach. Well said, via Oxford Learning.

Teach Creative Writing With These 5 Steps - Since I’ve been bitten by the NaNoWriMo bug, I’ve really managed to rediscover my love of writing in a purely creative and uninhibited atmosphere. Though it was my major in college, creative writing was something I never got enough of in school. Do your students a favor and prod them a little using these 5 steps from Bloggeron.

10 Things to Do When You only Have Five Minutes Left in Class - Ack! You’ve come to a stopping point, the kids are restless, and yet there’s no time to start something new! Or is there? The Apple provides these 10 things you can do to keep your students engaged and learning without starting something you can’t finish. Included on the list are great activities like Journal Writing and something called the Toilet Paper Game, which isn’t as weird or gross as it sounds.

- JEREMY S. GRIFFIN

Photo credit: HeavyWeightGeek on Flickr)

9 Questions I ask my Students on the First Day of School - Teacher Elona Hartjes believes in the value of making a good first impression. That’s why she asks her students these nine questions to make sure the school year gets off to a good start. She provides some valuable insight, and makes her students think about their successes and wants when it comes to education. Perhaps the most important question on the list: What three things can you do as a student to help yourself be more successful this year?

15 Sites that will Make You Smarter - You’re already plenty smart just for reading Instructify, but if you want to exercise that gray matter even more, check out this list of brain boosting games and memory tools from Tipr. These tests, quizzes and trivia sites can come in handy if you want to relax with some online games that aren’t solitaire, or if you want to get some ideas for keeping your students sharp.

Einstein’s 5 Maxims for Creative Excellence - I’m no Einstein, but Einstein is. Besides that whole “Theory of Relativity” thing, Einstein also had these five pieces of advice for creative excellence. The first is my favorite: Imagination is more important than knowledge. So the next time someone says “you can’t make this stuff up,” prove them differently. List via Ace Online Schools.

7 Actions That Can Help Your Wallet in a Troubled Economy - Times are tough in this economic crisis, so take advantage of these tips to make sure you are managing your money in all the right ways. From Lifehack comes these simple, but effective rules that will help make sure you don’t relive your college days and have to eat Ramen noodles for lunch AND dinner. Perhaps one of the simplest things you can start doing: ignore the news. Just because the rest of the nation is fretting over the economic crisis doesn’t mean you have to buy in to how grim the media makes things out to be. -JEREMY S. GRIFFIN

Photo credit: shootingstarr(isablur) on Flickr

5 Sources for Free and Legal Images -If you blog or use any sort of photography in your presentations, you might want to start thinking about making sure those photos and images are legal for you to use. If you want to skip that step, try using one of these five sources from The Blog Herald. The best part is that they are free, so you won’t have to dole out any hard-earned cash, and you’ll still feel fine about using the images copyright free. Of course, there is always Creative Commons Flickr if all else fails.

Classroom Survival Kit: 25 Items You Need to Have on Hand In Your Classroom - From TeachingChildren.ca, this list includes all of the essentials for teachers, not  necessarily students. Though some of the items sound more like things you might need if you were going to commit a crime (tool box, dice, metal nail file, duct tape), most of the items here are crucially handy to have around. I personally would have never thought of keeping “thank you” cards around until the last minute, but I guess preparation helps.

11 Things You Shouldn’t Leave for School Without- This article from Dumb Little Man is meant for the college-bound, and it is never too early for seniors to start thinking about preparing themselves for success. These are all online resources, so if nothing else, sites like Ottobib.com — an online bibliography — provide resources students of all ages can use.

10 Quick Lesson Ideas for Substitute Teachers - Substitutes have it tough. My own mother substitute taught many classes in my school system, and though she had it pretty easy because many people loved her, most other subs didn’t top the list of people students respected.  These tips from Work Sheet Library should come in handy for any subs out there who might otherwise spend their whole day asking students to “settle down.” My favorite on the list: magic tricks. Nobody can make fun of a substitute teacher who does magic tricks…right?  -JEREMY S. GRIFFIN

Photo credit: curly_exp(l)osure on Flickr

10 Overused Words in Writing - These words are very bad to use a lot. When writing, you should use them not as often. Increase your word bank by using more better words than these. I am really serious. Thanks to Precise Edit for this list which includes words that we are all guilty of overusing. “So,” “because” and “you” are all culprits.

20 Uses for a Post-It Note - In today’s digital age, it is easy to forget about the simple convenience of a sticky piece of paper; thankfully, here are 20 such uses. Though “mini paper airplane” and “kick me sign” are not on this list, Lifehack gives us a thorough fray of ways you can utilize these paper squares. The list is geared for students, so that is a bonus, too.

10 Products that Get a Tree Planted -  Since the post-it note list above isn’t very environmentally friendly, here is a list that will counteract it. We Heart World suggests shopping for products whose companies promise to plant a tree or some such environmentally friendly act in exchange for your purchase. Dell, Eco-Libris, and others are represented here.

20 Best Selling Children’s Books of All Time - How Stuff Works delivers this list of children’s books that belong in any elementary classroom. These books are the cream of the crop when it comes to kid lit, and thankfully Judy Blume is represented more than once on the list, with Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and Are You There God, It’s Me, Margaret. -JEREMY S. GRIFFIN

If you were jonesing for a list of lists to better your edification skills yesterday, I apologize. Nonetheless, Instructify is happy to present Tuesday by the Numbers, the day-late version of its sister column, Monday by the Numbers.

100 Free Online Ivy League Courses You Should Take Just for Fun - I know it says “for fun,” but come on, the real reason to take any class is to get some sort of betterment or education, right? Whatever your motive, Eduk8 delivers this great list of online course offerings from places like Johns Hopkins and MIT. The courses themselves range in subject from Child Development and Psychology to Foreign Culture, and the list is chock full of such unique offerings as The Anthropology of Computing and Hip Hop.

100 Awesome, Free Web Tools for Elementary Teachers - It can be tough sometimes to filter out the things on the web that are truly valuable, especially when it comes to things that are useful in teaching children. Here’s a list from SmartTeaching.org that will help you be a better researcher and educator to the youngins. With 100 here, you’ll find something you didn’t know for sure.

101 Ideas for a Great Start - Though the school year has technically already begun, it isn’t too late to start things out right by setting yourself and your students up for success. Iowa State offers these tips in establishing some great methods for students and teachers to start things off on the right foot. The list is set up in categories such as ‘creating a welcoming atmosphere’ and ‘encourage active learning.’

7 tips to top sleep, 3 tips for staying awake - Though it should just be as easy as ‘get to bed earlier, wake up later,’ sleeping is not always as easy a task as it seems to accomplish. The University Blog gives us these tips to help you zonk out at night, and pep up during the day. Stop yawning and read these now. -JEREMY S. GRIFFIN

Photo credit:  zen on flickr

120 Ways to Boost Your Brain Power
Some of the best ways to boost your brainpower have nothing to do with studying. Brainteasers and puzzles, critical thinking, and the occasional nap all work as the equivalent of mental calisthenics to keep you thinking faster and more creatively. I’ve started doing #22, learning to juggle, and I feel it’s made me think better on my feet. Plus I can impress friends and loved ones. I’m also intrigued by the title of #14, SCAMPER!

10 Tips for Immediate Productivity Results
Ever feel like you’re working hard but not meeting your goals? This list will help you get organized and get things done. Tips like not confusing “urgent” with “important,” and batching small jobs together and doing them at once are great ways to boost your productivity.

10 Most Common Passwords
It’s a fine line between creating a memorable password and making things too easy for hackers and identity thieves. PC Magazine lists the 10 most common passwords on the Internet. Suffice it to say, if the password to your bank account is on this list, you’d best change it ASAP. -BILL FERRIS

Photo credit: Thomas Hawk on flickr

Baptism by Fire: 100 Essential Tips and Resources for Student Teachers
If you or someone you care about is scared to death about his/her first student teaching assignment, this list will take away some of that stress. You’ll find tips on everything from classroom management to lesson plans to resume and interview help.

8 Essential Skills They Didn’t Teach You In School
School’s important, but there are some lessons it doesn’t cover. Your students — and maybe you, too — can try adding a few soft skills to the ol’ resume after reading this list. These skills are useful to folks of any age. I found some I’m already doing (listening to audiobooks while driving or doing mundane tasks) and a few I need to work on (networking). Defining the problem is half the battle, so if you feel you’re deficient in any of these skills, now’s as good a time as any to shore them up.

TED Talks: Predicting the next 5,000 days of the web
The interweb as we know it today is a ripe old 5,000 days old. We’ve come a long way since Prodigy, baby. Wonder what the next 5,000 days hold? Check out this TED Talks video.

TED’s Top 10 Videos - A (Free) Goldmine Of Inspiration
Speaking of TED, they’re an all-around compendium of awesome videos, tantalizing us with what’s possible. Here’s a handy Top 10 list, courtesy of Mike Stopforth, of cool, inspiring TED Talks to get you excited about the coming school year.

Photo credit: Sister 72 on flickr

Top 100 Language Blogs: Whether you teach a foreign language or English as a second language, you’ll want to pay a visit to these language blogs. You’ll find useful info about food, travel and culture. And, you know, words too.

50 Tips and Tricks to Create a Learning Space in Second Life: Second Life, that online realm where you can interact with semi-realistic avatars of folks from around the world, can be a powerful educational tool if you know how to use it right. Read up on these strategies and turn Second Life into a virtual classroom.

40 Places for College Students to Find Free Unabridged Books Online and 20 Best Websites to Download Free EBooks: I like free books. You like free books. Now you don’t even have to go to the library to get books for free thanks lists that are pretty much what they sound like.

50 Useful Blogging Tools for Teachers: Still thinking about jumping into blogging? If you’re itching to get started, check out this list of useful blogging tools for teachers called…well, you get the idea.

Photo credit: zen on flickr.

Five Rules for Better PowerPoint Presentations -Michael Hyatt’s blog, Working Smart, has these 5 great tips to spice up your next PowerPoint. The article is written from a business perspective, but that doesn’t mean these tips won’t help you when teaching the Civil War or Beowulf. One of the more important tidbits of advice is #4: Less is More. Amen, Mr. Hyatt.

40 Places for College Students to Find Free Unabridged Books Online -Your students, whether they are going to college or not, can surely benefit from more reading. In a digital age, why waste all the paper it takes to reprint a book when they are often archived online. These resources are, of course, free and include a list of places you can download audio versions of your favorite classics. Thanks to Education-Portal.com

Eleven Worst Foods Americans Eat Daily - It might be high time to get back on a health kick for your author, and what better place to start than identifying and limiting or eliminating certain foods from my diet. You can get on the train with me, and start the school year off right. HealthAssist.net presents this list of 11 kinds of food you should think twice before eating. Unfortunately for you, me and the good people at Krispy Kreme, doughnuts lead the list. Bummer, Bear Claw.

(25) Funny Metaphors Used in High School Essays -Because we aren’t without a sense of humor around here, (hopefully, you have one, too) so here are Help.com’s 25 examples of ridiculous metaphors used by high school students in various essays. Please note: some of these might be considered similes.  Among my favorite: From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you’re on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30 and He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine or something. - JEREMY S. GRIFFIN

15 Awesome Tutorial Websites You Probably Don’t Know About
A couple weeks ago I decided to take up juggling. Right away I was amazed at the high quality tutorials I found online. If you have a random hobby you’d like to try, or you’re looking for a project during these summer months, check out this list of sites.

100 Unbelievably Useful Reference Sites You’ve Never Heard Of
Here’s a great big list of sites you can use to find everything from literature to library references to health care. You can also find fun stuff like the Dialectizer, which can translate your text to sound like Elmer Fudd. Who doesn’t need that?

10 Brain Training Tips To Teach and Learn
Keep your brain fit for optimum learning potential. The folks at SharpBrains have these ten tips to turn you and your students into efficient thinking and learning machines.

Video Toolbox: 150+ Online Video Tools and Resources
Need to edit a class video project? Want some advice on how to create a video podcast? Or do you need to convert video to a different file format? Mashable has all that and more in this great post. -BILL FERRIS

Photo credit:  zen on flickr

Top 10 Office Supply Hacks - Get some extra mileage out of the supply closet. Lifehacker has 10 bonus uses for everyday office supplies. Keep snack foods fresh by using binder clips as chip clips. Did some clod write on your white board with permanant marker? Dry erase ink will make it come right off. You’ll want these ideas handy before class starts again.

17 Writing Secrets  - Want to bump your students’ writing from good to great (or at least from middling to halfway decent), Writer’s Digest presents these 17 writing secrets to help students make good word choices, and remind them of the importance of fixing stuff that’s kinda wordy and lame revision.

101+ Web Resources for Students - Courtesy of StudentHacks.org, this list is pretty much what it sounds like. It features everything from dictionaries to Shakespeare’s complete works to resources for the yearbook staff. If your students are looking for some handy Web tools, this is a great place to start.

100 Helpful Web Tools for Every Kind of Learner - Different students learn in different ways. What works for visual learners may not make sense to a kinesthetic learner. If you’re fixing to differentiate your instruction, check out these tools that cater to different learning styles. -BILL FERRIS

Photo credit: MarkyBon on flickr

10 Virtually Instant Ways to Improve Your Life - I’m all for improving my life, but why does it have to take soooo long? Here are ten easy ways to pull yourself up by your boot straps courtesy of Stepcase Lifehack. If you find yourself wanting to change something about your life, then why not start out with the simple stuff like Don’t over-generalize and Don’t take things too personally.

12 Ways to Use Project Censored in Your Classroom - Project Censored is an intiative designed to help aggregate news stories that often go under reported. This guide offers ways teachers can educate their students in fair journalism methods and help them understand the practice and importance of research. There are in-class activities and projects on the list, so if your students are studying media and journalism, this is a good place to start them on the right path.

 101 Scholarships Just For Teachers - From TeachingTips.com comes this amazing list of scholarships available for teachers working their way through college. It might be too late for most of us, but if you have some students who are interested in becoming teachers themselves, give them this list to ease college’s financial burdens. Some are region specific, so all 101 might not be completely pertinent. By the way, be sure and check out some of the other amazing lists on TeachingTips, they’ve got some great stuff there.

101 Things to Do When You’re Bored - I don’t know how anybody could possibly get bored when there are hundreds of Instructify posts to read, but if you find yourself with some idle time, then try out a few of these activities to rescue yourself from ennui. Lists Galore recommends flying a kite, starting a blog, or you know, making a list. - JEREMY S. GRIFFIN

Photo credit: Wetsun on Flickr

35 Scholarships Anyone Can Get - CollegeDegree.com has put this list of scholarships together that just about anyone is eligible for. The list includes scholarships in various amounts, as well as essay writing contests and some unorthodox contests like the Duct Tape Stuck at Prom Scholarship.

50 Things from Ben Jones - Ben Jones blogs for the M.I. T. admissions department. This letter, addressed to the incoming freshman, is a quick and dirty “here are the things I wish I’d known” list, with such advice as: All nighters are highly overrated. You said it, Ben.

101 Tips to Help You Make Money Doing What You Love - If you love teaching, don’t ever stop. But if your students have no idea what to do with their lives, then point them towards continuing to do the things they love. These tips from InspiredMoneyMaker.com should do the trick.

No Takebacks! Five Playground Rules to Live By - When the kids are at recess, you might do yourself some good by paying attention to what they’re yelling at one another. As it turns out, those tried and true rules like: No cutting and No do-overs might be more applicable to your adult life than you thought. From Dumb Little Man. - JEREMY S. GRIFFIN

(photo by: HeavyWeightGeek on Flickr)

50 Things Everyone Should Know How To Do - Do you know how to build a fire? How about CPR, do you know it? Or give directions? All of these things are essential life skills that you should know if you don’t already. This list from Marc and Angel covers everything from swimming to changing a tire in order for you to be more self-reliant.

6 Things Money Cannot Help You Achieve - Even Bill Gates and Steve Jobs still have to deal with the same time that you and I do, even if they could buy and sell you and me in a heartbeat. Surely there are other things than the ones presented on this list by Dumb Little Man, but these 6 make good sense. Money can’t buy you self-esteem, unfortunately, nor will it buy happiness.

52 Character Building Thoughts for Children - These might not be great tips for your older students, but the elementary crowd could really benefit from them. Leah Davies, M. Ed. brings us these great quotes on KellyBear.com. There are some real gems here, like this: When I am sad, I help myself feel better by thinking of things that are good in my life.

9 Ways to Save At The Movies - I know this isn’t completely related to teaching, but since school is out for most of us, we might have some more free time on our hands. Unfortunately, free time allows you to spend more money. If you plan to see any of the awesome, or not awesome movies this summer, here are some ways you can save from The Consumerist. My favorite on the list: Be careful with the concessions. -JEREMY S. GRIFFIN

(photo by Jo Jakeman on Flickr)

8 Tips to Help You Think Like a Genius - I don’t need these tips, personally, because me am already genius. You might find them useful, though. ZME Lifetips recommends visualization, being productive, and thinking metaphorically amongst others. Start using these tips and you’ll be a geinus in no time.

5 Questions That Will Save You Time and Money - Lifehack presents this list of questions you should ask yourself to tell if you are being productive or actually wasting time. There are a lot of do-it-yourself-ers out there who think they can do-it-themselves but they end up not-doing-it-right so they end-up-paying-for-it-later. The first of these five questions sums it up nicely: Do I have the skills necessary for the task?

6 Best Ways to Learn Physics… For Free - I don’t know much about physics, but I do know it is easier to understand if you see it in action. Blog Learn Out Loud has compiled this list of a few good video demonstrations you can find on the web. Included on the list is a great video we mentioned before about the 10th dimension.

List of Educational Web 2.0 Apps to Jumpstart Your Productivity - There are a lot of Web 2.0 applications out there, but only a few are catered toward becoming a better learner. DiplomaGuide has found some of the better ones available. These 25 applications are divided into categories like ‘organization’ and ‘note taking’. There seems like a good mix here, so sort your way through to find what you can recommend to your students. -JEREMY S. GRIFFIN

Photo credit: Szagi on flickr