Looking for Lesson Materials? Try OER Commons
Earlier this week I mentioned on Twitter that I had introduced a couple of my colleagues to the Open Educational Resources Commons. They took off running with some of the things they found on theOER Commons. In fact, it was through one of them that I learned about Math Open Reference which was linked to a mathematics lesson on OER Commons.
OER Commons is a place for educators to post lessons and lesson materials that others can use. There are thousands of lessons organized by content area and grade level. After you've made your initial selections of content area and grade level you can refine your search by lesson type, material, media format, and usage rights.
Applications for Education
One of the great qualities about teachers is that, for the most part, we're very willing to share our ideas and lesson resources with each other. OER Commons is a great online example of that quality found in teachers. If you're a new teacher or you're teaching a new grade or subject this year, you're probably trying to develop a lot of new lessons this year. If you're looking for ideas and or materials for those lessons, give OER Commons a look.
Adobe's Project ROME Looks Promising
Last Monday I bookmarked an article on ZDNet about Adobe's new Project ROME for Education to read later. I now wish I hadn't waited. After trying it out for the better part of an hour, I can describeProject ROME as a combination of the best elements ofGlogster, Apple's Pages, Keynote, and touch of GIMP thrown-in for good measure.
Project ROME allows users to create multimedia documents and presentations. ROME can also be used to create quizzes and to design websites. Users can build documents that include images, videos, and animations. Animations can be imported from an existing file or created from scratch within ROME. Resizing of elements within any project in ROME is a simple matter of drag and drop resizing. Arranging elements is also a drag and drop process. Adding elements to a project in ROME is done by selecting from a large series of drop-down menus. Some parts of using ROME are quite intuitive, but as you might expect with a program that has many features, there are parts of ROME that will require you to follow a tutorial the first time you try it. Watch the video below for an overview ofProject ROME.
Popout
Right now Project ROME is free, but I don't expect it to stay free forever. ROME is available to use online and as a desktop application.
Applications for Education
As the demo template shows, Project ROME could be used to create mathematics quizzes that contain animations. You could also use ROME to create a quiz or set of discussion prompts that contain videos. ROME could be used by students to create multimedia presentations or documents.
Weekly Core Subjects Resources
With this edition I will include a fantastic site for art teachers who might be interested in having students create computer generated art.
Mathematics
ACT Math Question of the Day - This site is great for understanding the concepts and problems that students will face when taking the ACT. It is broken down by the different math curriculum based on the percentage it would appear on the ACT. Each problem is then in a Flash video with an explanation of how to get the correct answer. These make GREAT bell ringer activities. Students can complete it and then be shown how to solve it to check their answers.
Science
Sixty Symbols is a site that has videos related to various symbols in physics, science, and Astronomy. These videos would be very useful in high school science classrooms. It helps to clarify many of the confusing symbols that we see in science classrooms.
English
Interactive Folio: Romeo and Juliet. Found on Free Technology For Teachers, this is a great interactive for learning about Romeo and Juliet. The interactive does a fantastic job of helping students interpret the text from Shakespeare. You can search through the various Acts, Scenes, and Page numbers if looking for a specific resource.
Social Studies
American Journeys: Eye Witness Accounts of Early American Exploration and Settlement. Primary documents from the Vikings all the way up to the 1800's. This site is fantastic for finding resources about early America. There are several documents and images that you can search through, as well as a Teacher Resource area. This would be a great starting point for research.
Art
Sculptris is a 3D sculpting software for your computer that you can download and use to create 3D images. I highly recommend viewing the video to see it in action.
Documentary Heaven
Documentary Heaven is a site dedicated to providing documentary movies for free on the web. You can search for movies based on several different categories and topics. These videos are found at other locations and then embedded onto this site. I will warn you that several videos in certain topics might be deemed inappropriate, but that does not take away from the educational value that several hundred of the other videos can provide in your classroom. My suggestion is that you take a look at the videos for yourself and see which ones you might find useful.
Home to School Connection Guide from Edutopia
Edutopia recently released a new, free PDF guide to improving communication between schools and parents. Edutopia's Home-to-School Connections Guidefeatures ten ideas that you can implement right away to improve your communications with parents. Some of the ideas included are using Facebook to connect, using Google Voice, and building partnerships with parents. Readers of this blog may recognize Larry Ferlazzo's name in the section about building partnerships with parents. Overall, Edutopia's Home-to-School Connections Guideoffers good practical advice for improving communications between schools and parents.
Encyclomedia
Encyclomedia is a video encyclopedia that is great for searching for articles and videos on any given topic (think United Streaming). What separates this from just any other search engine is to then take those results such as video and then share it w/ others via an embed code.
Below are the results from a search on the term, technology...
I highly recommend checking out Encyclomedia by clickinghere!!!
For a much more detailed review check out Richard Byrne'sblog.
A Teacher’s Field Guide to Parents
I got a real kick out of Jason Flom's blog post, A Teacher's Field Guide to Parents, over at the Ecology of Education site. Recognize any of these parent types?
- Burger King parents. They want it their way, and right now!
- Chicken Little parents. "The sky is falling, the sky is falling."
- Flintstone parents. "Well, back when I was in this grade, the way that teacher did it was... "
- Grass-is-greener parents: "Oh my, Mrs. Johnson does it much differently than you do..."
- Barometer parents: Knows the feelings of all of the other parents in the class.
- Perfectionist parents: There's always something they can find for you to do... just a little bit better.
- Bueller parents: What parents?
Jason describes each category in funny detail, and I think you'll laugh along with him as you spot these parent types in your own life.
Check 'er out; cool read.
What do you think?
Recognize any of these types?
Care to add any others?
Weekly Core Subject Resources
Science
- From NBC Learn, the Science of the NFL. This site contains videos that help explain the science of football. This would be a great way to increase interest in science for several students in your classroom. You can also visitLessonopoly for teacher resources to go along with the videos. The final video will be posted this Friday.
Social Studies
- From National Geographic here is a great resource for theUnderground Railroad where you get to experience the journey as a slave. Another great resource is the History Lab. This site is a homepage for teachers to learn from other teachers how students are learning social studies through the use of digital tools. You can search by subject matter and by digital tool.
English
-Want to help students become faster readers and increase the words per minute that they are able to read? ZAP Reader does just that. You can copy and paste text from a website and it will display them at a speed you determine to help you improve your reading speed. See the video below for a better understanding. Another great site is Citebite. Students can copy and paste text into a text box. Then copy and paste the URL. When you click the MakeCitebite, you get a link to the page and a highlight of the text. Be a great way for students to cite information for a paper.
Popout
Mathematics
- A Maths Dictionary for Kids is a great resource for learning common math terminology that students come across. Search via Letter and then by term. It provides the definition and examples for students. Would be a great way to introduce a math vocabulary word each day.
All Subjects
- 200 Free Movies Online - These are some of the classics by some well known producers and directors. Some are also not as well known documentaries and Indies.
Weekly Core Subjects Resources
This is my third edition of links/resources related to specific core curriculum. I wasn't sure if I would be able to sustain this, but week after week I find something new that I can share with others. Hope you find one useful.
Science
I have two this week for Science. Scale of the Universe is an interesting interactive that allows you to see how big the universe is and how small we are. I highly recommend sharing with students. There is some background music, so you might want to have speakers on mute. The second resource is Encyclopedia of Earth. A great resource for geography and biology classes. You can search for articles by subject and also find resources for educators as well. If you are really motivated, you can become a contributor to the site as well.
Social Studies
The Supreme Court by PBS is an interactive website available for teachers to have a better understanding of the Supreme. On the site you can find videos, games, time-lines, and lesson plans. Another neat feature is that you can create a log-in and guess how the court will decide on this seasons cases. This would be a great site for both Civics and U.S. History.
English
Write for Ten is a website for free-writing. The idea is to get people to just write for ten minutes and then share that on the web page. The other idea is to help you work on a long document by writing on it for ten minutes at a time. You will have to create an account to participate, but even if you don't, the concept of writing for ten minutes would be a great addition to the classroom. This site might help foster some ideas.
Mathematics
The following is a site that has several Math Interactives that could be used with an Airliner or SMARTBoard. "This multimedia resource includes interactive math activities, print activities, learning strategies, and videos that illustrate how math is used in everyday life. The resource addresses the following mathematics topics: Fractions; Integers; Percentages; Rate/Ratio/Proportion; Square Roots; Exponents; Patterns; Algebra; Linear Equations; Polynomials; Angles; Circles; Surface Area and Volume; Area and Perimeter; Triangles; Pythagoras; Trigonometry; Similarity and Congruence; Transformations; Shape Classification; Data Display and Graphs; Central Tendency and Distribution; and Probability."
Open Study - Create or Join Online Study Groups
Open Study is a new collaborative study service developed and funded in part by Georgia Tech, Emory University, and the National Science Foundation. At its most basic Open Study is a message board for students in search of help answering difficult questions. Students could use it just for that purpose, but Open Study provides more than that. Open Study offers students the option to create or join online study groups, subscribe to other students' updates, and provides students with a place to record their notes online. Students can register for Open Study using their email addresses or connect to Open Study with their Facebook accounts.
Watch the video below for an introduction to Open Study.
Popout
Applications for Education
Open Study could be very helpful for students that need help beyond the times when their teachers are available to answer questions. Open Study could also be helpful for homeschool students and for students involved in independent studies.
Here are some related resources that may be of interest to you:
Ediscio - Collaboratively Create Flashcards
Flashcard Flash - Search for Flashcard Sets
Quizlet - Create and Share Flashcards
Creative Commons: What Every Educator Needs to Know
Getting an entire school on board with a digital communication platform aka classroom blog is a PROCESS. A (baby) step by (baby) step process… As the interaction between teachers, school, students, parent and global community increases, so does the need for other “little” pieces of 21st century literacies. For example
- Social and global networking
- Global awareness
- Social Bookmarking
- Copyright
As teachers and students become PRODUCERS of content on their blogs it is becoming essential that we model good behavior when it comes to Copyright issues. Rodd Lucier, aka as thecleversheep ( @thecleversheep on Twitter) has contributed a fabulous presentation to the K12 Online Conference 2010.
Creative Commons: What Every Educator Needs to Know
Here is presentation I had created in the past to give a brief overview of different copyright licenses.
The two videos mentioned in the slideshow are:
Copyright and Fair Use
Popout
Creative Commons: Wanna Work Together?
Popout
“Technology Tools to Get Teachers Started”
Technology Tools to Get Teachers Started is nice post over at Edutopia.
I’m adding it to My Best Posts For Tech Novices (Plus A Few From Other People).
7 Must-Watch EdTech Videos
With so many viral videos swirling around on the web, you've likely missed a few really great ones for education - particularly technology and education. Here are 7 must-watch EdTech videos for
any
EVERY teacher. In no particular order... 1. Mr. Winkle Wakes A short story about the resistance of change in education. Mr. Winkle awakes from a long slumber to see how technology had changed the world - but not the classroom. 2. A Brave New World Wide Web One educator's journey to becoming a 21st century learner and teacher. 3. Introducing the Book A comic look at how "new technology", even basic technology, will always have a learning curve. 4. A Vision of Students Today A popular web video that gives a short summary and a unique perspective of today's students. 5. Did You Know 4.0 No EdTech video listing would be complete without one of the "Did You Know" videos. 6. The EdTech Community is Living in the 19th Century An open call to educators to take a look at the "system" that we know today. 7. The Machine is Us/ing UsWeb 2.0 In just under 5 minutes. This video shows how content is changing with advances in technology.
Six Visual Dictionaries and Thesauri
Here are six visual dictionaries and thesauri that can help your students better understand the meanings of words.
Snappy Words is a free visual dictionary and thesaurus. Enter any word or phrase into theSnappy Words search box and it will create a web of related words, phrases, and definitions. Hover your cursor over any word or phrase in the web to read its definition. Click and drag any node to explore other branches of the web. Double click on a node and it will generate new web branches.
Visuwords uses a web design to show users the definitions of words and the connections between words. To use Visuwords just type a word into the search box and Visuwords will generate a web of related words. Place your cursor over any of the words and the definition appears. Use the color-coded key to understand the connections between the words in any web.
Lexipedia, likeVisuwords, provides the definitions of words along with a webbed diagram of related words and their definitions. In addition to definitions and diagrams, Lexipedia offers audio pronunciations of words although when I tested it the audio didn't seem to be working properly. In my side-by-side comparison of Lexipedia andVisuwords, both performed equally well, but occasionally offered different definitions and connections for the same word.
Merriam Webster's Visual Dictionaryis divided into fifteen thematic categories containing more than 6,000 words defined and accompanied by images. You can find words and definitions by browsing through the categorized images or by using the text search bar.
Wordia is a free visual, video dictionary. Wordia features a selection of user-submitted and professionally created videos explaining the meaning of a word. The videos focus on the everyday use of words while the text accompanying each video provides the dictionary definition of the word.
Got Brainy features two sections; Brainy Flix and Brainy Pics. Brainy Pics is comprised of images that demonstrate the meaning of a word. Most of the pictures are submitted by students. Brainy Flix is comprised of short videos that illustrate the meaning of words. Just like with Brainy Pics, most of the videos are submitted by students.
Here are some related items that may be of interest to you:
10 Resources for ESL & Foreign Language Students
22 Frames - Captioned Videos & More for ESL
"I understand how you feel" - The PYP Attitude Empathy
While we deal with eSafety issues in many of our classes, and while we promote a responsible use of technology for all students and educate students not to use technology to bully or tease people, we do explicity teach about cyberbullying in Grade 5 in our Sharing the Planet unit of inquiry to support their central idea that "finding peaceful solutions to problems leads to a better quality of human life". We use the following movie from Digizen to prompt a discussion:Popout
and then we go on to have the students play this interactive game about decisions they could make during a school day to be responsible digital citizens.
Most of the students say they feel sympathetic for Joe, the main character in the movie and game. However what we talk to the students about is the difference between sympathy (feeling sorry for someone) and empathy (feeling with someone and understanding his or her perspective), and what they should do if they experience bullying themselves or if they are bystanders to bullying. It's important for students to know that they are not alone and that there are responsible adults who will help them deal with these situations before they get out of hand.
We are Teachers
We are Teachers is a wonderful social network for educators that I'm just now starting to find out about due to the magic of collaboration. Luckily, I came across this in reading the comments online from one of my top 10 lists that was on T & L's site.
This is a network that is filled w/ innovative ideas on a number of different subject. Also, this community is filled w/ different educators from around the world so an array of ideas can be found here. Plus, people can receive prizes & cash by submitting their ideas and lessons.
I highly recommend checking out We are Teachers by clicking here, as it is one of the better online communities to come around in a while
10 Great Free Resources from Discovery Education
Discovery Education is an excellent resource for teachers. Many teachers know about Discovery Streaming, the Discovery Channel, or evenDiscovery Middle School Science. All of these are fee based services, but Discovery Education also has some great free resources for any teacher. Here are my top 10 (out of the 25 or so they have that are free).
1. Web 20.10 -http://web2010.discoveryeducation.com/ - Access great content on Internet Safety, Media Literacy and links to Web 2.0 Tool. The site is rich with little flash videos detailing the explanation and use of Web 2.0 Tools in the classroom. This is a great resource for new teachers and veterans to learn about Web 2.0 tools.
2. New Teacher Survival Central -http://discoveryeducation.com/survival/ - Includes Tech Tools for teachers and students, New teacher blogs, classroom tools, and curriculum resources, Tips/tricks on: Classroom Environment, Classroom Management, Parent Communication, Cool tips on Green Screens and more!
3. Science Fair Central -http://school.discoveryeducation.com/sciencefaircentral/?campaign=SFC - Great ideas how to create, launch and facilitate a Science Fair, including tips and ideas for student projects.
4. Discovery Education Lesson Plans -http://school.discoveryeducation.com/lessonplans/- lesson plans for all different subjects, sorted by K-5, 6-8, and 9-12.
5. Siemens STEM Academy -http://stem.discoveryeducation.com/ - Premier online community designed to foster student achievement in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math through the collaboration of STEM educators and sharing of best practices. Great resources, ideas, and more.
6. Kathy Schrock's guide for Educators -http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/- Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators is a categorized list of sites useful for enhancing curriculum and professional growth. It is updated often to include the best sites for teaching and learning.
7. Science of Everyday Life -http://scienceofeverydaylife.discoveryeducation.com/- Everywhere you look, there are wonders both big and small just waiting to be explored. Your school, your home, and your community are all boundless laboratories full of mystery, excitement and surprise. Join us as we uncover the magic all around us and tap the innovator within us…in the Science of Everyday Life. What a great way to connect science to students' lives and experiences by connecting science to everyday things.
8. Worksheets to Go -http://school.discoveryeducation.com/teachingtools/worksheetgenerator/wtg/index.html- great worksheets and activities for teachers to use. Sorted by subject and topic.
9. Puzzlemaker -http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/- create your own puzzles. Create and print customized word search, criss-cross, math puzzles, and more—using your own word lists.
10. NASA at 50 -http://discoveryeducation.com/NASAat50/ - NASA at 50 highlights key innovations and milestones in chemistry, physics, engineering, and space exploration from NASA's fifty-year history. Each clip serves as a gateway for further learning in science and history and promotes critical thinking and inquiry as essential components of scientific literacy.
Students can enjoy NASA at 50 in video or audio formats that are compatible with common portable media players. In addition, teacher's guides are provided for each clip to facilitate integration of this exciting and engaging content into lesson plans.
Training resources for using Discovery Education resources:
Discovery Education Training Resources on Educational Technology Guy.
Lots of resources, articles, how-to’s, links, and more.
Weekly Core Subjects Resources
I have been trying to think of a new weekly post for this school year (it has taken till October to figure it out), but I thought it would be great to share resources related to specific content areas, especially the core subjects. Below you will find a resource for the four core subjects - Math, Science, English, Social Studies. Not that other subjects are not important, and not that I won't add on as the year goes on, I just wanted to start with these four to start out.
Social Studies
101 Great Sites for Social Studies Classes - A very valuable resource for all social studies teachers. Links with short descriptions of the website so you know what you are getting into. They are broken down by subject and topic area and split onto four pages. A great starting point for finding primary sources and resources for your classroom. Share with the social studies teachers in your district.
Science
Biology Corner - Shared through my RSS feed on theEducational Technology Guy, a great resource for teachers. I even had a teacher in my building tell me they thought it was a great resource. The site has loads of lessons and worksheets available to download. There is also a blog with useful tips and tricks for teaching biology. A handy resource for science teachers.
English
Neotake - An eBook search engine. You can search for a title of a book or an author and get both a list of results as well as images. It list a price and the format (site available) for the eBooks. You can narrow down your results as well. Seems like a useful search tool for finding eBooks, considering I think this will be the future of student textbooks this might be a useful site to keep handy.
Mathematics
Plus Magazine and Tools - Shared through my RSS feed onFree Technology for Teachers, this is a great resource to share how mathematics is used in the everyday world. On the site you can request to receive free posters, listen toPodcast, and play puzzles related to math. A very useful site for math teachers to explain how math is not just something you need to care about when in school.
Homework and Charlie Brown
While browsing online for the Charlie Brown teacher voice as a joke to a friend, I came across this fantastic video about the different ways children approach a book report. I remember book reports being one of the most popular assessments when I was in school. Now, I see my niece struggling with them. She hates them and my sister and her often fight about her finishing them correctly.
PopoutLet’s look at the learners…
I really like this video because I think we are familiar with these different types of learners in our classes. Most students aren’t wild about homework. In the video, even the ones who get the homework all respond, “Homework, yuck!!” The video shows four different approaches to the homework:
Lucy
This is how my niece used to approach book reports by filling in as many words as possible. She would often count the words over and over again and try to find ways to sneakily add more. Like Lucy, I think book reports made her hate reading the book and I fear sometimes that some assignments we give and the way we give them make our learners hate learning. My niece loves to read and you’ll find her reading a graphic novel daily. She has also consistently been one of the top scorers in all her standardized tests, especially in reading. I’d attribute this more to her daily reading habits, since we have always received calls about her failure to turn in homework. We are fortunate she goes to a charter school that has allowed us to let her turn it in by the end of the six week period. However, I wonder if she does well in assignments and shows achievement in other ways if she should really have to do all the homework she is assigned?
Schroeder
Does his homework on a computer instead of writing it out like Lucy. He struggles with the report because he either did not read the book or doesn’t remember reading it. He decides to equate it to a book he does remember, Robin Hood. This brings up another point about giving students a choice. Do we give our students enough choices how they will approach a subject and what ways they will explore the subject outside of class?
Charlie Brown
He’s the perfect student that represents Alfie Kohn’s anti-homework arguments. Charlie Brown argues he “should be outside playing, getting sunshine and fresh air.” He also decides to leave it to the last minute.
Linus
Many educators would like their students to approach all assignments like Linus who has the curiosity to go beyond the book and link to his previous learning. He thinks about the book report and does research before even typing a word. However, most students aren’t Linus and even if they do approach assignments like this does this make the assignment valuable for most of the students?
Why do teachers give homework?
Like me, I know many teachers hate the word homework. I use the word “Challenges,” sound familiar from my posts? 
All the challenges I give are listed in my various class wikis and are optional. I list several types of homework such as an online quiz, video, writing assignment, field trip, podcast, and so forth. My students can choose which they want to do and if they want to do them. They don’t get graded on the assignments but it helps them improve their English skills so the majority will choose to do the challenges. For my young learners, I have the parents do the challenges with them. I give these “challenges” because I believe my students need opportunities outside the classroom to practice and apply the English they learn, especially since they live in Germany. I don’t have to do this because my language institute has no grading or homework policy but I have seen my students achieve a lot in a year and I believe the weekly wiki tasks help them.
Shaun Wilden (@shaunwilden), a teacher trainer, recently asked various educators, Why do you set homework? These were their responses in a Wallwisher.
If you enjoyed this post, you may want to check out Alfie Kohn’s thoughts about why teachers shouldn’t give homework.
Challenge:
Add to Shaun’s Wallwisher and reflect on the homework you give this year.
If you enjoyed this post, you may want to subscribe for FREE to receive regular updates!
What are your thoughts about giving homework?
How to Manage a One-Computer Classroom
With budget cuts all around us, it is not unusual for many teachers to face a common dilemma – one computer with a class of 25+ students. Have no fear – one computer classrooms are more manageable than you might think! There are several tricks you can do to help your classroom run smoothly, despite this obstacle. The following are a few tips I’ve compiled to help you manage a one computer classroom!
Tip #1: Be sure to place the computer in an easily accessible and easily supervised place. This will prevent over-crowding for students using the computer in the classroom. It will also allow the teacher to easily assist students and keep an eye on what is being done.
Tip #2: Another strategy is to create “stations” or multiple activities, using the computer as only one of the tools necessary to complete assignments. Teachers can encourage the use of more traditional resources, such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, magazines, newspapers, and books within the school library. After a designated amount of time, students/groups should rotate to a different station.
Tip #3: Post a schedule of computer usage. Teachers should designate a certain amount of time for each student to have a turn using the computer in the classroom. For older students, why not make it the student’s responsibility to keep track of their appointed time?
Tip #4: Project the computer screen onto a larger screen so the entire class can see. This is especially helpful if you have an interactive white board, such as a Promethean ActivBoard, which can help take your lesson plan to the next level. This is a great way for teachers to engage students with vivid images, video and audio while using a computer in the classroom.
Tip #5: Use an auto response system. A great way teachers can engage students is to include lessons designed for group participation. With an auto response system, students can further contribute right from their seats! Mouse Mischief, a free auto response system, allows teachers to integrate surveys, polls, questions, and drawing activity slides into PowerPoint lessons.
Tip #6: Be extremely organized and plan carefully. Perhaps this is the most important tip because teachers must make sure things run as smoothly as possible in the classroom. Providing step-by-step instructions and examples of what work should be completed can help ensure that all students are prepared before it is their turn at the computer station.
Related Stories
5 Reasons Schools Should Switch To Online Tests by Shankar Ganesh
Part of the series: Cool Sites by Guest Author, Shankar Ganesh
Make no mistake – there’s an evolution happening in education right now. Schools are increasingly embracing technology to enhance learning in their classrooms. Still though, a few processes, like examinations, for example, are done in the traditional way. It’s time schools get rid of the plain old pen-and-paper way of testing and move to online tests. Here’s why:
1. Time Saver
Since online tests are self-graded, Professors can be relieved of the burden of evaluating test sheets manually. There’s also a good chance that students will complete online tests quicker, once they get accustomed to the process.
This is perfect for public schools and universities – all the time saved can help instructors focus better on preparing lessons and course material. Students get their results in no time – enough motivation for them to get involved in academics.
2. No Logistical Challenges
Believe it or not: conducting paper-based exams is logistically challenging. Test times have to be scheduled and test sheets have to be gathered. There’s plenty of work involved and there are chances things could go awry.
An online testing platform eliminates all that cumbersome work. Scheduling tests can be done at the click of a button. Students can be batched and questions can be replicated in random order for each of those batches with little effort.
3. Multimedia
Schools have embraced multimedia by the way of instructions. It’s time to bring all that interactivity to tests. Multimedia is a great choice for authentically assessing a candidate’s level of understanding. Plain paper is inadequate in that respect and it should be chucked.
An online test can be embedded with relevant multimedia elements to make it more challenging, unique and fun for students. More student engagement, guaranteed. It’s not like assembling projectors in classes. Embedding videos and pictures is a piece of cake.
4. Low Cost
Development and delivery of online exams is much more efficient and cost effective when compared to distribution of paper and pencil-based exams. There’s not much effort involved in reproducing questions for tests if they’re done online. Scoring isn’t expensive as well – it is all automated.
In addition, online tests take away the costs involved in storing the enormous volume of data that is associated with the analysis of student scores and report generation. Online tests are your best bet.
5. Reduced Cheating
Better scores translate to more rewards in the US and according to experts, one to three percent of teachers tamper with students’ test scores every year. No disrespect to educators, but that means a few thousand teachers indulge in “actual cheating” annually (NYTimes story).
On the contrary, evaluation in online tests is completely automated – the computers know nothing about the candidates. There’s no way to skew answers and this is possibly the best way to do away with cheating in exams.
Popout————————————————————-
Shankar Ganesh is a young blogger from India. He’s pursuing his bachelor’s degree in engineering in India, and is currently working to make sure that more teachers and educators get to know about Zoho Challenge, Zoho’s sweetquiz maker application.
Virtual Field Trips
Virtual field trips are a great way to get your students to experience something new without having to actually go there. The Apple, a great resource for teachers, recently posted an article listing the 5 best Virtual Field Trips.
Use these virtual field trips as a free resource for your students.
5 Tools to Create and Administer Quizzes Online
Other than attending staff meetings, writing and grading quizzes might be the least enjoyable part of teaching. Fortunately, there are some tools that can make the process a little bit easier. Here are five tools teachers can use to create and administer quizzes online. There are many other quiz and survey tools on the web, but not all of them provide the option to see quiz takers' results. These five were chosen because teachers can see their students' results.
I use Google Forms for giving short multiple choice quizzes. I create the quizzes in Google Forms, post them on my classroom blog, students take the quiz on my blog, and their answers appear in an easy-to-grade spreadsheet. Below I've embedded a slideshow with directions for creating and embedding quizzes using Google Forms, but here are a few points that should be emphasized.
1. Make sure the first question is "student name." Otherwise you won't know who submitted which answers.
2. You can mix question types (multiple choice, short answer, paragraph) but if you have too many types and too many students, the spreadsheet can become difficult to navigate.
3. When embedding the form into a blog, make sure you edit the width to fit within your blog's main column. You can use the same principles of editing the size of a YouTube video for editing the width of a spreadsheet.
Zoho Challenge is a part of the Zoho suite of document, presentation, and office productivity tools. Zoho Challenge is a tool that allows you to create and administer quizzes online. Zoho Challenge tests can be written with multiple choice or open-ended questions or a combination of both. Tests created with Zoho Challenge can have a time limit imposed or be given without a time limit. Each test can be individually assigned to test takers. Finally, when a test is created with Zoho Challenge the test creator can decide whether or not the test taker can see the results. In June of this year Zoho Challenge introduced an option for including comprehensive questions that you can use to write questions based upon a paragraph statement, an image, or a combination of both.
Popout
Last spring ProProfs launched ProProfs Quiz School. The ProProfs Quiz School gives quiz creators a digital report card that is tracked and stored online. The digital report card tracks information about the number of times a quiz is attempted and tracks the results of the quizzes. The Quiz School also allows quiz creators to control which users can access a quiz and place a limit on how many times a quiz can be taken. Finally, quizzes created through the ProProfs Quiz School allow quiz takers to get instant feedback on their answers.
MyStudiyo is an easy way to make a multimedia quiz for your website or blog. With MyStudiyoyou can include video, audio, and image file in your quiz. Each question in your quiz can have a different media format. There are two options for answer format, multiple choice or open-ended response. Quizzes are easy to create and easy to embed into a website or blog. If your students register for a MyStudiyo account before they take your quiz, you can monitor their quiz results.
That Quiz is an online quiz tool that has been around for a long time (in Internet terms), but is still widely used by educators. OnThatQuiz.org you can write quizzes and find quizzes that your students can use. ThatQuiz.org is kind of like a wiki of quizzes because teachers can share with others the quizzes that they have written. ThatQuiz.org does more than just provide quizzes for teachers. Students can take the quizzes online and get instant feedback. Teachers can use ThatQuiz.org to track the results of quizzes their students take. ThatQuiz.org started out as a resource just for math quizzes, but is now expanded to include vocabulary and geography quizzes.
NextUp
Okay, I have to thank Phillip Cummingsfor providing me this link. I am really intrigued about ways to use this in education. The idea behind NextUp is that you enter in the topic that you are covering, provide a time limit (MM:SS) and then it will countdown to help keep you on task. NextUp would be a great tool for those teachers that are struggling with time management.
links for 2010-05-18
5 Ways to Redesign Your Professional Development to Motivate Teachers and Increase Student AchievementTop 5 Tips for Administrators, Principals and Advisors on Redesigning PD
1.Stop Wasting Your Money and Use Your Assets
2.Build and Cultivate a Community of Learners
3.Design Meaningful, Practical, and Exploratory Sessions
4.Evaluate, Reflect, and Adjust
5. Let Go and Let Learn
PowerPoint Collections
I’ve just updated The Best Online Collections Of PowerPoints For Teachers.
Teachers First
Teachers First is a great resource that I just found out about from reading Alexandra Fransisco's wonderful blog,Zarco English. This is a collection of resources (sites, lesson plans, etc) organized by subject and grade level.
I highly recommend checking out Teachers First by clicking here!!
Looking for Lesson Materials? Try OER Commons
Earlier this week I mentioned on Twitter that I had introduced a couple of my colleagues to the Open Educational Resources Commons. They took off running with some of the things they found on theOER Commons. In fact, it was through one of them that I learned about Math Open Reference which was linked to a mathematics lesson on OER Commons.
OER Commons is a place for educators to post lessons and lesson materials that others can use. There are thousands of lessons organized by content area and grade level. After you've made your initial selections of content area and grade level you can refine your search by lesson type, material, media format, and usage rights.
Applications for Education
One of the great qualities about teachers is that, for the most part, we're very willing to share our ideas and lesson resources with each other. OER Commons is a great online example of that quality found in teachers. If you're a new teacher or you're teaching a new grade or subject this year, you're probably trying to develop a lot of new lessons this year. If you're looking for ideas and or materials for those lessons, give OER Commons a look.
Adobe's Project ROME Looks Promising
Last Monday I bookmarked an article on ZDNet about Adobe's new Project ROME for Education to read later. I now wish I hadn't waited. After trying it out for the better part of an hour, I can describeProject ROME as a combination of the best elements ofGlogster, Apple's Pages, Keynote, and touch of GIMP thrown-in for good measure.
Project ROME allows users to create multimedia documents and presentations. ROME can also be used to create quizzes and to design websites. Users can build documents that include images, videos, and animations. Animations can be imported from an existing file or created from scratch within ROME. Resizing of elements within any project in ROME is a simple matter of drag and drop resizing. Arranging elements is also a drag and drop process. Adding elements to a project in ROME is done by selecting from a large series of drop-down menus. Some parts of using ROME are quite intuitive, but as you might expect with a program that has many features, there are parts of ROME that will require you to follow a tutorial the first time you try it. Watch the video below for an overview ofProject ROME.
Popout
Right now Project ROME is free, but I don't expect it to stay free forever. ROME is available to use online and as a desktop application.
Applications for Education
As the demo template shows, Project ROME could be used to create mathematics quizzes that contain animations. You could also use ROME to create a quiz or set of discussion prompts that contain videos. ROME could be used by students to create multimedia presentations or documents.
Weekly Core Subjects Resources
With this edition I will include a fantastic site for art teachers who might be interested in having students create computer generated art.
Mathematics
ACT Math Question of the Day - This site is great for understanding the concepts and problems that students will face when taking the ACT. It is broken down by the different math curriculum based on the percentage it would appear on the ACT. Each problem is then in a Flash video with an explanation of how to get the correct answer. These make GREAT bell ringer activities. Students can complete it and then be shown how to solve it to check their answers.
Science
Sixty Symbols is a site that has videos related to various symbols in physics, science, and Astronomy. These videos would be very useful in high school science classrooms. It helps to clarify many of the confusing symbols that we see in science classrooms.
English
Interactive Folio: Romeo and Juliet. Found on Free Technology For Teachers, this is a great interactive for learning about Romeo and Juliet. The interactive does a fantastic job of helping students interpret the text from Shakespeare. You can search through the various Acts, Scenes, and Page numbers if looking for a specific resource.
Social Studies
American Journeys: Eye Witness Accounts of Early American Exploration and Settlement. Primary documents from the Vikings all the way up to the 1800's. This site is fantastic for finding resources about early America. There are several documents and images that you can search through, as well as a Teacher Resource area. This would be a great starting point for research.
Art
Sculptris is a 3D sculpting software for your computer that you can download and use to create 3D images. I highly recommend viewing the video to see it in action.
Documentary Heaven
Documentary Heaven is a site dedicated to providing documentary movies for free on the web. You can search for movies based on several different categories and topics. These videos are found at other locations and then embedded onto this site. I will warn you that several videos in certain topics might be deemed inappropriate, but that does not take away from the educational value that several hundred of the other videos can provide in your classroom. My suggestion is that you take a look at the videos for yourself and see which ones you might find useful.
Home to School Connection Guide from Edutopia
Edutopia recently released a new, free PDF guide to improving communication between schools and parents. Edutopia's Home-to-School Connections Guidefeatures ten ideas that you can implement right away to improve your communications with parents. Some of the ideas included are using Facebook to connect, using Google Voice, and building partnerships with parents. Readers of this blog may recognize Larry Ferlazzo's name in the section about building partnerships with parents. Overall, Edutopia's Home-to-School Connections Guideoffers good practical advice for improving communications between schools and parents.
Encyclomedia
Encyclomedia is a video encyclopedia that is great for searching for articles and videos on any given topic (think United Streaming). What separates this from just any other search engine is to then take those results such as video and then share it w/ others via an embed code.
Below are the results from a search on the term, technology...
I highly recommend checking out Encyclomedia by clickinghere!!!
For a much more detailed review check out Richard Byrne'sblog.
A Teacher’s Field Guide to Parents
I got a real kick out of Jason Flom's blog post, A Teacher's Field Guide to Parents, over at the Ecology of Education site. Recognize any of these parent types?
- Burger King parents. They want it their way, and right now!
- Chicken Little parents. "The sky is falling, the sky is falling."
- Flintstone parents. "Well, back when I was in this grade, the way that teacher did it was... "
- Grass-is-greener parents: "Oh my, Mrs. Johnson does it much differently than you do..."
- Barometer parents: Knows the feelings of all of the other parents in the class.
- Perfectionist parents: There's always something they can find for you to do... just a little bit better.
- Bueller parents: What parents?
Jason describes each category in funny detail, and I think you'll laugh along with him as you spot these parent types in your own life.
Check 'er out; cool read.
What do you think?
Recognize any of these types?
Care to add any others?
Weekly Core Subject Resources
Science
- From NBC Learn, the Science of the NFL. This site contains videos that help explain the science of football. This would be a great way to increase interest in science for several students in your classroom. You can also visitLessonopoly for teacher resources to go along with the videos. The final video will be posted this Friday.
Social Studies
- From National Geographic here is a great resource for theUnderground Railroad where you get to experience the journey as a slave. Another great resource is the History Lab. This site is a homepage for teachers to learn from other teachers how students are learning social studies through the use of digital tools. You can search by subject matter and by digital tool.
English
-Want to help students become faster readers and increase the words per minute that they are able to read? ZAP Reader does just that. You can copy and paste text from a website and it will display them at a speed you determine to help you improve your reading speed. See the video below for a better understanding. Another great site is Citebite. Students can copy and paste text into a text box. Then copy and paste the URL. When you click the MakeCitebite, you get a link to the page and a highlight of the text. Be a great way for students to cite information for a paper.
Popout
Mathematics
- A Maths Dictionary for Kids is a great resource for learning common math terminology that students come across. Search via Letter and then by term. It provides the definition and examples for students. Would be a great way to introduce a math vocabulary word each day.
All Subjects
- 200 Free Movies Online - These are some of the classics by some well known producers and directors. Some are also not as well known documentaries and Indies.
Weekly Core Subjects Resources
This is my third edition of links/resources related to specific core curriculum. I wasn't sure if I would be able to sustain this, but week after week I find something new that I can share with others. Hope you find one useful.
Science
I have two this week for Science. Scale of the Universe is an interesting interactive that allows you to see how big the universe is and how small we are. I highly recommend sharing with students. There is some background music, so you might want to have speakers on mute. The second resource is Encyclopedia of Earth. A great resource for geography and biology classes. You can search for articles by subject and also find resources for educators as well. If you are really motivated, you can become a contributor to the site as well.
Social Studies
The Supreme Court by PBS is an interactive website available for teachers to have a better understanding of the Supreme. On the site you can find videos, games, time-lines, and lesson plans. Another neat feature is that you can create a log-in and guess how the court will decide on this seasons cases. This would be a great site for both Civics and U.S. History.
English
Write for Ten is a website for free-writing. The idea is to get people to just write for ten minutes and then share that on the web page. The other idea is to help you work on a long document by writing on it for ten minutes at a time. You will have to create an account to participate, but even if you don't, the concept of writing for ten minutes would be a great addition to the classroom. This site might help foster some ideas.
Mathematics
The following is a site that has several Math Interactives that could be used with an Airliner or SMARTBoard. "This multimedia resource includes interactive math activities, print activities, learning strategies, and videos that illustrate how math is used in everyday life. The resource addresses the following mathematics topics: Fractions; Integers; Percentages; Rate/Ratio/Proportion; Square Roots; Exponents; Patterns; Algebra; Linear Equations; Polynomials; Angles; Circles; Surface Area and Volume; Area and Perimeter; Triangles; Pythagoras; Trigonometry; Similarity and Congruence; Transformations; Shape Classification; Data Display and Graphs; Central Tendency and Distribution; and Probability."
Open Study - Create or Join Online Study Groups
Open Study is a new collaborative study service developed and funded in part by Georgia Tech, Emory University, and the National Science Foundation. At its most basic Open Study is a message board for students in search of help answering difficult questions. Students could use it just for that purpose, but Open Study provides more than that. Open Study offers students the option to create or join online study groups, subscribe to other students' updates, and provides students with a place to record their notes online. Students can register for Open Study using their email addresses or connect to Open Study with their Facebook accounts.
Watch the video below for an introduction to Open Study.
Popout
Applications for Education
Open Study could be very helpful for students that need help beyond the times when their teachers are available to answer questions. Open Study could also be helpful for homeschool students and for students involved in independent studies.
Here are some related resources that may be of interest to you:
Ediscio - Collaboratively Create Flashcards
Flashcard Flash - Search for Flashcard Sets
Quizlet - Create and Share Flashcards
Creative Commons: What Every Educator Needs to Know
Getting an entire school on board with a digital communication platform aka classroom blog is a PROCESS. A (baby) step by (baby) step process… As the interaction between teachers, school, students, parent and global community increases, so does the need for other “little” pieces of 21st century literacies. For example
- Social and global networking
- Global awareness
- Social Bookmarking
- Copyright
As teachers and students become PRODUCERS of content on their blogs it is becoming essential that we model good behavior when it comes to Copyright issues. Rodd Lucier, aka as thecleversheep ( @thecleversheep on Twitter) has contributed a fabulous presentation to the K12 Online Conference 2010.
Creative Commons: What Every Educator Needs to Know
Here is presentation I had created in the past to give a brief overview of different copyright licenses.
The two videos mentioned in the slideshow are:
Copyright and Fair Use
Popout
Creative Commons: Wanna Work Together?
Popout
“Technology Tools to Get Teachers Started”
Technology Tools to Get Teachers Started is nice post over at Edutopia.
I’m adding it to My Best Posts For Tech Novices (Plus A Few From Other People).
7 Must-Watch EdTech Videos
With so many viral videos swirling around on the web, you've likely missed a few really great ones for education - particularly technology and education. Here are 7 must-watch EdTech videos for
any
EVERY teacher. In no particular order... 1. Mr. Winkle Wakes A short story about the resistance of change in education. Mr. Winkle awakes from a long slumber to see how technology had changed the world - but not the classroom. 2. A Brave New World Wide Web One educator's journey to becoming a 21st century learner and teacher. 3. Introducing the Book A comic look at how "new technology", even basic technology, will always have a learning curve. 4. A Vision of Students Today A popular web video that gives a short summary and a unique perspective of today's students. 5. Did You Know 4.0 No EdTech video listing would be complete without one of the "Did You Know" videos. 6. The EdTech Community is Living in the 19th Century An open call to educators to take a look at the "system" that we know today. 7. The Machine is Us/ing UsWeb 2.0 In just under 5 minutes. This video shows how content is changing with advances in technology.
Six Visual Dictionaries and Thesauri
Here are six visual dictionaries and thesauri that can help your students better understand the meanings of words.
Snappy Words is a free visual dictionary and thesaurus. Enter any word or phrase into theSnappy Words search box and it will create a web of related words, phrases, and definitions. Hover your cursor over any word or phrase in the web to read its definition. Click and drag any node to explore other branches of the web. Double click on a node and it will generate new web branches.
Visuwords uses a web design to show users the definitions of words and the connections between words. To use Visuwords just type a word into the search box and Visuwords will generate a web of related words. Place your cursor over any of the words and the definition appears. Use the color-coded key to understand the connections between the words in any web.Lexipedia, likeVisuwords, provides the definitions of words along with a webbed diagram of related words and their definitions. In addition to definitions and diagrams, Lexipedia offers audio pronunciations of words although when I tested it the audio didn't seem to be working properly. In my side-by-side comparison of Lexipedia andVisuwords, both performed equally well, but occasionally offered different definitions and connections for the same word.Merriam Webster's Visual Dictionaryis divided into fifteen thematic categories containing more than 6,000 words defined and accompanied by images. You can find words and definitions by browsing through the categorized images or by using the text search bar.Wordia is a free visual, video dictionary. Wordia features a selection of user-submitted and professionally created videos explaining the meaning of a word. The videos focus on the everyday use of words while the text accompanying each video provides the dictionary definition of the word.Got Brainy features two sections; Brainy Flix and Brainy Pics. Brainy Pics is comprised of images that demonstrate the meaning of a word. Most of the pictures are submitted by students. Brainy Flix is comprised of short videos that illustrate the meaning of words. Just like with Brainy Pics, most of the videos are submitted by students.
Here are some related items that may be of interest to you:
10 Resources for ESL & Foreign Language Students
22 Frames - Captioned Videos & More for ESL
"I understand how you feel" - The PYP Attitude Empathy
While we deal with eSafety issues in many of our classes, and while we promote a responsible use of technology for all students and educate students not to use technology to bully or tease people, we do explicity teach about cyberbullying in Grade 5 in our Sharing the Planet unit of inquiry to support their central idea that "finding peaceful solutions to problems leads to a better quality of human life". We use the following movie from Digizen to prompt a discussion:Popout
and then we go on to have the students play this interactive game about decisions they could make during a school day to be responsible digital citizens.
Most of the students say they feel sympathetic for Joe, the main character in the movie and game. However what we talk to the students about is the difference between sympathy (feeling sorry for someone) and empathy (feeling with someone and understanding his or her perspective), and what they should do if they experience bullying themselves or if they are bystanders to bullying. It's important for students to know that they are not alone and that there are responsible adults who will help them deal with these situations before they get out of hand.
We are Teachers
We are Teachers is a wonderful social network for educators that I'm just now starting to find out about due to the magic of collaboration. Luckily, I came across this in reading the comments online from one of my top 10 lists that was on T & L's site.
This is a network that is filled w/ innovative ideas on a number of different subject. Also, this community is filled w/ different educators from around the world so an array of ideas can be found here. Plus, people can receive prizes & cash by submitting their ideas and lessons.
I highly recommend checking out We are Teachers by clicking here, as it is one of the better online communities to come around in a while
10 Great Free Resources from Discovery Education
Discovery Education is an excellent resource for teachers. Many teachers know about Discovery Streaming, the Discovery Channel, or evenDiscovery Middle School Science. All of these are fee based services, but Discovery Education also has some great free resources for any teacher. Here are my top 10 (out of the 25 or so they have that are free).
1. Web 20.10 -http://web2010.discoveryeducation.com/ - Access great content on Internet Safety, Media Literacy and links to Web 2.0 Tool. The site is rich with little flash videos detailing the explanation and use of Web 2.0 Tools in the classroom. This is a great resource for new teachers and veterans to learn about Web 2.0 tools.
2. New Teacher Survival Central -http://discoveryeducation.com/survival/ - Includes Tech Tools for teachers and students, New teacher blogs, classroom tools, and curriculum resources, Tips/tricks on: Classroom Environment, Classroom Management, Parent Communication, Cool tips on Green Screens and more!
3. Science Fair Central -http://school.discoveryeducation.com/sciencefaircentral/?campaign=SFC - Great ideas how to create, launch and facilitate a Science Fair, including tips and ideas for student projects.
4. Discovery Education Lesson Plans -http://school.discoveryeducation.com/lessonplans/- lesson plans for all different subjects, sorted by K-5, 6-8, and 9-12.
5. Siemens STEM Academy -http://stem.discoveryeducation.com/ - Premier online community designed to foster student achievement in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math through the collaboration of STEM educators and sharing of best practices. Great resources, ideas, and more.
6. Kathy Schrock's guide for Educators -http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/- Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators is a categorized list of sites useful for enhancing curriculum and professional growth. It is updated often to include the best sites for teaching and learning.
7. Science of Everyday Life -http://scienceofeverydaylife.discoveryeducation.com/- Everywhere you look, there are wonders both big and small just waiting to be explored. Your school, your home, and your community are all boundless laboratories full of mystery, excitement and surprise. Join us as we uncover the magic all around us and tap the innovator within us…in the Science of Everyday Life. What a great way to connect science to students' lives and experiences by connecting science to everyday things.
8. Worksheets to Go -http://school.discoveryeducation.com/teachingtools/worksheetgenerator/wtg/index.html- great worksheets and activities for teachers to use. Sorted by subject and topic.
9. Puzzlemaker -http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/- create your own puzzles. Create and print customized word search, criss-cross, math puzzles, and more—using your own word lists.
10. NASA at 50 -http://discoveryeducation.com/NASAat50/ - NASA at 50 highlights key innovations and milestones in chemistry, physics, engineering, and space exploration from NASA's fifty-year history. Each clip serves as a gateway for further learning in science and history and promotes critical thinking and inquiry as essential components of scientific literacy.
Students can enjoy NASA at 50 in video or audio formats that are compatible with common portable media players. In addition, teacher's guides are provided for each clip to facilitate integration of this exciting and engaging content into lesson plans.
Training resources for using Discovery Education resources:
Discovery Education Training Resources on Educational Technology Guy.
Lots of resources, articles, how-to’s, links, and more.
Weekly Core Subjects Resources
I have been trying to think of a new weekly post for this school year (it has taken till October to figure it out), but I thought it would be great to share resources related to specific content areas, especially the core subjects. Below you will find a resource for the four core subjects - Math, Science, English, Social Studies. Not that other subjects are not important, and not that I won't add on as the year goes on, I just wanted to start with these four to start out.
Social Studies
101 Great Sites for Social Studies Classes - A very valuable resource for all social studies teachers. Links with short descriptions of the website so you know what you are getting into. They are broken down by subject and topic area and split onto four pages. A great starting point for finding primary sources and resources for your classroom. Share with the social studies teachers in your district.
Science
Biology Corner - Shared through my RSS feed on theEducational Technology Guy, a great resource for teachers. I even had a teacher in my building tell me they thought it was a great resource. The site has loads of lessons and worksheets available to download. There is also a blog with useful tips and tricks for teaching biology. A handy resource for science teachers.
English
Neotake - An eBook search engine. You can search for a title of a book or an author and get both a list of results as well as images. It list a price and the format (site available) for the eBooks. You can narrow down your results as well. Seems like a useful search tool for finding eBooks, considering I think this will be the future of student textbooks this might be a useful site to keep handy.
Mathematics
Plus Magazine and Tools - Shared through my RSS feed onFree Technology for Teachers, this is a great resource to share how mathematics is used in the everyday world. On the site you can request to receive free posters, listen toPodcast, and play puzzles related to math. A very useful site for math teachers to explain how math is not just something you need to care about when in school.
Homework and Charlie Brown
While browsing online for the Charlie Brown teacher voice as a joke to a friend, I came across this fantastic video about the different ways children approach a book report. I remember book reports being one of the most popular assessments when I was in school. Now, I see my niece struggling with them. She hates them and my sister and her often fight about her finishing them correctly.
PopoutLet’s look at the learners…
I really like this video because I think we are familiar with these different types of learners in our classes. Most students aren’t wild about homework. In the video, even the ones who get the homework all respond, “Homework, yuck!!” The video shows four different approaches to the homework:
Lucy
This is how my niece used to approach book reports by filling in as many words as possible. She would often count the words over and over again and try to find ways to sneakily add more. Like Lucy, I think book reports made her hate reading the book and I fear sometimes that some assignments we give and the way we give them make our learners hate learning. My niece loves to read and you’ll find her reading a graphic novel daily. She has also consistently been one of the top scorers in all her standardized tests, especially in reading. I’d attribute this more to her daily reading habits, since we have always received calls about her failure to turn in homework. We are fortunate she goes to a charter school that has allowed us to let her turn it in by the end of the six week period. However, I wonder if she does well in assignments and shows achievement in other ways if she should really have to do all the homework she is assigned?
Schroeder
Does his homework on a computer instead of writing it out like Lucy. He struggles with the report because he either did not read the book or doesn’t remember reading it. He decides to equate it to a book he does remember, Robin Hood. This brings up another point about giving students a choice. Do we give our students enough choices how they will approach a subject and what ways they will explore the subject outside of class?
Charlie Brown
He’s the perfect student that represents Alfie Kohn’s anti-homework arguments. Charlie Brown argues he “should be outside playing, getting sunshine and fresh air.” He also decides to leave it to the last minute.
Linus
Many educators would like their students to approach all assignments like Linus who has the curiosity to go beyond the book and link to his previous learning. He thinks about the book report and does research before even typing a word. However, most students aren’t Linus and even if they do approach assignments like this does this make the assignment valuable for most of the students?
Why do teachers give homework?
Like me, I know many teachers hate the word homework. I use the word “Challenges,” sound familiar from my posts? All the challenges I give are listed in my various class wikis and are optional. I list several types of homework such as an online quiz, video, writing assignment, field trip, podcast, and so forth. My students can choose which they want to do and if they want to do them. They don’t get graded on the assignments but it helps them improve their English skills so the majority will choose to do the challenges. For my young learners, I have the parents do the challenges with them. I give these “challenges” because I believe my students need opportunities outside the classroom to practice and apply the English they learn, especially since they live in Germany. I don’t have to do this because my language institute has no grading or homework policy but I have seen my students achieve a lot in a year and I believe the weekly wiki tasks help them.
Shaun Wilden (@shaunwilden), a teacher trainer, recently asked various educators, Why do you set homework? These were their responses in a Wallwisher.
If you enjoyed this post, you may want to check out Alfie Kohn’s thoughts about why teachers shouldn’t give homework.
Challenge:
Add to Shaun’s Wallwisher and reflect on the homework you give this year.
If you enjoyed this post, you may want to subscribe for FREE to receive regular updates!
What are your thoughts about giving homework?
How to Manage a One-Computer Classroom
With budget cuts all around us, it is not unusual for many teachers to face a common dilemma – one computer with a class of 25+ students. Have no fear – one computer classrooms are more manageable than you might think! There are several tricks you can do to help your classroom run smoothly, despite this obstacle. The following are a few tips I’ve compiled to help you manage a one computer classroom!Tip #1: Be sure to place the computer in an easily accessible and easily supervised place. This will prevent over-crowding for students using the computer in the classroom. It will also allow the teacher to easily assist students and keep an eye on what is being done.
Tip #2: Another strategy is to create “stations” or multiple activities, using the computer as only one of the tools necessary to complete assignments. Teachers can encourage the use of more traditional resources, such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, magazines, newspapers, and books within the school library. After a designated amount of time, students/groups should rotate to a different station.
Tip #3: Post a schedule of computer usage. Teachers should designate a certain amount of time for each student to have a turn using the computer in the classroom. For older students, why not make it the student’s responsibility to keep track of their appointed time?
Tip #4: Project the computer screen onto a larger screen so the entire class can see. This is especially helpful if you have an interactive white board, such as a Promethean ActivBoard, which can help take your lesson plan to the next level. This is a great way for teachers to engage students with vivid images, video and audio while using a computer in the classroom.
Tip #5: Use an auto response system. A great way teachers can engage students is to include lessons designed for group participation. With an auto response system, students can further contribute right from their seats! Mouse Mischief, a free auto response system, allows teachers to integrate surveys, polls, questions, and drawing activity slides into PowerPoint lessons.
Tip #6: Be extremely organized and plan carefully. Perhaps this is the most important tip because teachers must make sure things run as smoothly as possible in the classroom. Providing step-by-step instructions and examples of what work should be completed can help ensure that all students are prepared before it is their turn at the computer station.
Related Stories
5 Reasons Schools Should Switch To Online Tests by Shankar Ganesh
Part of the series: Cool Sites by Guest Author, Shankar Ganesh
Make no mistake – there’s an evolution happening in education right now. Schools are increasingly embracing technology to enhance learning in their classrooms. Still though, a few processes, like examinations, for example, are done in the traditional way. It’s time schools get rid of the plain old pen-and-paper way of testing and move to online tests. Here’s why:
1. Time Saver
Since online tests are self-graded, Professors can be relieved of the burden of evaluating test sheets manually. There’s also a good chance that students will complete online tests quicker, once they get accustomed to the process.
This is perfect for public schools and universities – all the time saved can help instructors focus better on preparing lessons and course material. Students get their results in no time – enough motivation for them to get involved in academics.
2. No Logistical Challenges
Believe it or not: conducting paper-based exams is logistically challenging. Test times have to be scheduled and test sheets have to be gathered. There’s plenty of work involved and there are chances things could go awry.
An online testing platform eliminates all that cumbersome work. Scheduling tests can be done at the click of a button. Students can be batched and questions can be replicated in random order for each of those batches with little effort.
3. Multimedia
Schools have embraced multimedia by the way of instructions. It’s time to bring all that interactivity to tests. Multimedia is a great choice for authentically assessing a candidate’s level of understanding. Plain paper is inadequate in that respect and it should be chucked.
An online test can be embedded with relevant multimedia elements to make it more challenging, unique and fun for students. More student engagement, guaranteed. It’s not like assembling projectors in classes. Embedding videos and pictures is a piece of cake.
4. Low Cost
Development and delivery of online exams is much more efficient and cost effective when compared to distribution of paper and pencil-based exams. There’s not much effort involved in reproducing questions for tests if they’re done online. Scoring isn’t expensive as well – it is all automated.
In addition, online tests take away the costs involved in storing the enormous volume of data that is associated with the analysis of student scores and report generation. Online tests are your best bet.
5. Reduced Cheating
Better scores translate to more rewards in the US and according to experts, one to three percent of teachers tamper with students’ test scores every year. No disrespect to educators, but that means a few thousand teachers indulge in “actual cheating” annually (NYTimes story).
On the contrary, evaluation in online tests is completely automated – the computers know nothing about the candidates. There’s no way to skew answers and this is possibly the best way to do away with cheating in exams.
Popout————————————————————-
Shankar Ganesh is a young blogger from India. He’s pursuing his bachelor’s degree in engineering in India, and is currently working to make sure that more teachers and educators get to know about Zoho Challenge, Zoho’s sweetquiz maker application.
Virtual Field Trips
Virtual field trips are a great way to get your students to experience something new without having to actually go there. The Apple, a great resource for teachers, recently posted an article listing the 5 best Virtual Field Trips.
Use these virtual field trips as a free resource for your students.
Looking for Lesson Materials? Try OER Commons
Earlier this week I mentioned on Twitter that I had introduced a couple of my colleagues to the Open Educational Resources Commons. They took off running with some of the things they found on theOER Commons. In fact, it was through one of them that I learned about Math Open Reference which was linked to a mathematics lesson on OER Commons.
OER Commons is a place for educators to post lessons and lesson materials that others can use. There are thousands of lessons organized by content area and grade level. After you've made your initial selections of content area and grade level you can refine your search by lesson type, material, media format, and usage rights.
Applications for Education
One of the great qualities about teachers is that, for the most part, we're very willing to share our ideas and lesson resources with each other. OER Commons is a great online example of that quality found in teachers. If you're a new teacher or you're teaching a new grade or subject this year, you're probably trying to develop a lot of new lessons this year. If you're looking for ideas and or materials for those lessons, give OER Commons a look.
Adobe's Project ROME Looks Promising
Last Monday I bookmarked an article on ZDNet about Adobe's new Project ROME for Education to read later. I now wish I hadn't waited. After trying it out for the better part of an hour, I can describeProject ROME as a combination of the best elements ofGlogster, Apple's Pages, Keynote, and touch of GIMP thrown-in for good measure.
Project ROME allows users to create multimedia documents and presentations. ROME can also be used to create quizzes and to design websites. Users can build documents that include images, videos, and animations. Animations can be imported from an existing file or created from scratch within ROME. Resizing of elements within any project in ROME is a simple matter of drag and drop resizing. Arranging elements is also a drag and drop process. Adding elements to a project in ROME is done by selecting from a large series of drop-down menus. Some parts of using ROME are quite intuitive, but as you might expect with a program that has many features, there are parts of ROME that will require you to follow a tutorial the first time you try it. Watch the video below for an overview ofProject ROME.
Popout
Right now Project ROME is free, but I don't expect it to stay free forever. ROME is available to use online and as a desktop application.
Applications for Education
As the demo template shows, Project ROME could be used to create mathematics quizzes that contain animations. You could also use ROME to create a quiz or set of discussion prompts that contain videos. ROME could be used by students to create multimedia presentations or documents.
Weekly Core Subjects Resources
With this edition I will include a fantastic site for art teachers who might be interested in having students create computer generated art.
Mathematics
ACT Math Question of the Day - This site is great for understanding the concepts and problems that students will face when taking the ACT. It is broken down by the different math curriculum based on the percentage it would appear on the ACT. Each problem is then in a Flash video with an explanation of how to get the correct answer. These make GREAT bell ringer activities. Students can complete it and then be shown how to solve it to check their answers.
Science
Sixty Symbols is a site that has videos related to various symbols in physics, science, and Astronomy. These videos would be very useful in high school science classrooms. It helps to clarify many of the confusing symbols that we see in science classrooms.
English
Interactive Folio: Romeo and Juliet. Found on Free Technology For Teachers, this is a great interactive for learning about Romeo and Juliet. The interactive does a fantastic job of helping students interpret the text from Shakespeare. You can search through the various Acts, Scenes, and Page numbers if looking for a specific resource.
Social Studies
American Journeys: Eye Witness Accounts of Early American Exploration and Settlement. Primary documents from the Vikings all the way up to the 1800's. This site is fantastic for finding resources about early America. There are several documents and images that you can search through, as well as a Teacher Resource area. This would be a great starting point for research.
Art
Sculptris is a 3D sculpting software for your computer that you can download and use to create 3D images. I highly recommend viewing the video to see it in action.
Documentary Heaven
Documentary Heaven is a site dedicated to providing documentary movies for free on the web. You can search for movies based on several different categories and topics. These videos are found at other locations and then embedded onto this site. I will warn you that several videos in certain topics might be deemed inappropriate, but that does not take away from the educational value that several hundred of the other videos can provide in your classroom. My suggestion is that you take a look at the videos for yourself and see which ones you might find useful.
Home to School Connection Guide from Edutopia
Edutopia recently released a new, free PDF guide to improving communication between schools and parents. Edutopia's Home-to-School Connections Guidefeatures ten ideas that you can implement right away to improve your communications with parents. Some of the ideas included are using Facebook to connect, using Google Voice, and building partnerships with parents. Readers of this blog may recognize Larry Ferlazzo's name in the section about building partnerships with parents. Overall, Edutopia's Home-to-School Connections Guideoffers good practical advice for improving communications between schools and parents.
Encyclomedia
Encyclomedia is a video encyclopedia that is great for searching for articles and videos on any given topic (think United Streaming). What separates this from just any other search engine is to then take those results such as video and then share it w/ others via an embed code.
Below are the results from a search on the term, technology...
I highly recommend checking out Encyclomedia by clickinghere!!!
For a much more detailed review check out Richard Byrne'sblog.
A Teacher’s Field Guide to Parents
I got a real kick out of Jason Flom's blog post, A Teacher's Field Guide to Parents, over at the Ecology of Education site. Recognize any of these parent types?
- Burger King parents. They want it their way, and right now!
- Chicken Little parents. "The sky is falling, the sky is falling."
- Flintstone parents. "Well, back when I was in this grade, the way that teacher did it was... "
- Grass-is-greener parents: "Oh my, Mrs. Johnson does it much differently than you do..."
- Barometer parents: Knows the feelings of all of the other parents in the class.
- Perfectionist parents: There's always something they can find for you to do... just a little bit better.
- Bueller parents: What parents?
Jason describes each category in funny detail, and I think you'll laugh along with him as you spot these parent types in your own life.
Check 'er out; cool read.
What do you think?
Recognize any of these types?
Care to add any others?
Weekly Core Subject Resources
Science
- From NBC Learn, the Science of the NFL. This site contains videos that help explain the science of football. This would be a great way to increase interest in science for several students in your classroom. You can also visitLessonopoly for teacher resources to go along with the videos. The final video will be posted this Friday.
Social Studies
- From National Geographic here is a great resource for theUnderground Railroad where you get to experience the journey as a slave. Another great resource is the History Lab. This site is a homepage for teachers to learn from other teachers how students are learning social studies through the use of digital tools. You can search by subject matter and by digital tool.
English
-Want to help students become faster readers and increase the words per minute that they are able to read? ZAP Reader does just that. You can copy and paste text from a website and it will display them at a speed you determine to help you improve your reading speed. See the video below for a better understanding. Another great site is Citebite. Students can copy and paste text into a text box. Then copy and paste the URL. When you click the MakeCitebite, you get a link to the page and a highlight of the text. Be a great way for students to cite information for a paper.
Popout
Mathematics
- A Maths Dictionary for Kids is a great resource for learning common math terminology that students come across. Search via Letter and then by term. It provides the definition and examples for students. Would be a great way to introduce a math vocabulary word each day.
All Subjects
- 200 Free Movies Online - These are some of the classics by some well known producers and directors. Some are also not as well known documentaries and Indies.
Weekly Core Subjects Resources
This is my third edition of links/resources related to specific core curriculum. I wasn't sure if I would be able to sustain this, but week after week I find something new that I can share with others. Hope you find one useful.
Science
I have two this week for Science. Scale of the Universe is an interesting interactive that allows you to see how big the universe is and how small we are. I highly recommend sharing with students. There is some background music, so you might want to have speakers on mute. The second resource is Encyclopedia of Earth. A great resource for geography and biology classes. You can search for articles by subject and also find resources for educators as well. If you are really motivated, you can become a contributor to the site as well.
Social Studies
The Supreme Court by PBS is an interactive website available for teachers to have a better understanding of the Supreme. On the site you can find videos, games, time-lines, and lesson plans. Another neat feature is that you can create a log-in and guess how the court will decide on this seasons cases. This would be a great site for both Civics and U.S. History.
English
Write for Ten is a website for free-writing. The idea is to get people to just write for ten minutes and then share that on the web page. The other idea is to help you work on a long document by writing on it for ten minutes at a time. You will have to create an account to participate, but even if you don't, the concept of writing for ten minutes would be a great addition to the classroom. This site might help foster some ideas.
Mathematics
The following is a site that has several Math Interactives that could be used with an Airliner or SMARTBoard. "This multimedia resource includes interactive math activities, print activities, learning strategies, and videos that illustrate how math is used in everyday life. The resource addresses the following mathematics topics: Fractions; Integers; Percentages; Rate/Ratio/Proportion; Square Roots; Exponents; Patterns; Algebra; Linear Equations; Polynomials; Angles; Circles; Surface Area and Volume; Area and Perimeter; Triangles; Pythagoras; Trigonometry; Similarity and Congruence; Transformations; Shape Classification; Data Display and Graphs; Central Tendency and Distribution; and Probability."
Open Study - Create or Join Online Study Groups
Open Study is a new collaborative study service developed and funded in part by Georgia Tech, Emory University, and the National Science Foundation. At its most basic Open Study is a message board for students in search of help answering difficult questions. Students could use it just for that purpose, but Open Study provides more than that. Open Study offers students the option to create or join online study groups, subscribe to other students' updates, and provides students with a place to record their notes online. Students can register for Open Study using their email addresses or connect to Open Study with their Facebook accounts.
Watch the video below for an introduction to Open Study.
Popout
Applications for Education
Open Study could be very helpful for students that need help beyond the times when their teachers are available to answer questions. Open Study could also be helpful for homeschool students and for students involved in independent studies.
Here are some related resources that may be of interest to you:
Ediscio - Collaboratively Create Flashcards
Flashcard Flash - Search for Flashcard Sets
Quizlet - Create and Share Flashcards
Creative Commons: What Every Educator Needs to Know
Getting an entire school on board with a digital communication platform aka classroom blog is a PROCESS. A (baby) step by (baby) step process… As the interaction between teachers, school, students, parent and global community increases, so does the need for other “little” pieces of 21st century literacies. For example
- Social and global networking
- Global awareness
- Social Bookmarking
- Copyright
As teachers and students become PRODUCERS of content on their blogs it is becoming essential that we model good behavior when it comes to Copyright issues. Rodd Lucier, aka as thecleversheep ( @thecleversheep on Twitter) has contributed a fabulous presentation to the K12 Online Conference 2010.
Creative Commons: What Every Educator Needs to Know
Here is presentation I had created in the past to give a brief overview of different copyright licenses.
The two videos mentioned in the slideshow are:
Copyright and Fair Use
Popout
Creative Commons: Wanna Work Together?
Popout
“Technology Tools to Get Teachers Started”
Technology Tools to Get Teachers Started is nice post over at Edutopia.
I’m adding it to My Best Posts For Tech Novices (Plus A Few From Other People).
7 Must-Watch EdTech Videos
With so many viral videos swirling around on the web, you've likely missed a few really great ones for education - particularly technology and education. Here are 7 must-watch EdTech videos for
any
EVERY teacher. In no particular order... 1. Mr. Winkle Wakes A short story about the resistance of change in education. Mr. Winkle awakes from a long slumber to see how technology had changed the world - but not the classroom. 2. A Brave New World Wide Web One educator's journey to becoming a 21st century learner and teacher. 3. Introducing the Book A comic look at how "new technology", even basic technology, will always have a learning curve. 4. A Vision of Students Today A popular web video that gives a short summary and a unique perspective of today's students. 5. Did You Know 4.0 No EdTech video listing would be complete without one of the "Did You Know" videos. 6. The EdTech Community is Living in the 19th Century An open call to educators to take a look at the "system" that we know today. 7. The Machine is Us/ing UsWeb 2.0 In just under 5 minutes. This video shows how content is changing with advances in technology.
Six Visual Dictionaries and Thesauri
Here are six visual dictionaries and thesauri that can help your students better understand the meanings of words.
Snappy Words is a free visual dictionary and thesaurus. Enter any word or phrase into theSnappy Words search box and it will create a web of related words, phrases, and definitions. Hover your cursor over any word or phrase in the web to read its definition. Click and drag any node to explore other branches of the web. Double click on a node and it will generate new web branches.
Visuwords uses a web design to show users the definitions of words and the connections between words. To use Visuwords just type a word into the search box and Visuwords will generate a web of related words. Place your cursor over any of the words and the definition appears. Use the color-coded key to understand the connections between the words in any web.Lexipedia, likeVisuwords, provides the definitions of words along with a webbed diagram of related words and their definitions. In addition to definitions and diagrams, Lexipedia offers audio pronunciations of words although when I tested it the audio didn't seem to be working properly. In my side-by-side comparison of Lexipedia andVisuwords, both performed equally well, but occasionally offered different definitions and connections for the same word.Merriam Webster's Visual Dictionaryis divided into fifteen thematic categories containing more than 6,000 words defined and accompanied by images. You can find words and definitions by browsing through the categorized images or by using the text search bar.Wordia is a free visual, video dictionary. Wordia features a selection of user-submitted and professionally created videos explaining the meaning of a word. The videos focus on the everyday use of words while the text accompanying each video provides the dictionary definition of the word.Got Brainy features two sections; Brainy Flix and Brainy Pics. Brainy Pics is comprised of images that demonstrate the meaning of a word. Most of the pictures are submitted by students. Brainy Flix is comprised of short videos that illustrate the meaning of words. Just like with Brainy Pics, most of the videos are submitted by students.
Here are some related items that may be of interest to you:
10 Resources for ESL & Foreign Language Students
22 Frames - Captioned Videos & More for ESL
"I understand how you feel" - The PYP Attitude Empathy
While we deal with eSafety issues in many of our classes, and while we promote a responsible use of technology for all students and educate students not to use technology to bully or tease people, we do explicity teach about cyberbullying in Grade 5 in our Sharing the Planet unit of inquiry to support their central idea that "finding peaceful solutions to problems leads to a better quality of human life". We use the following movie from Digizen to prompt a discussion:Popout
and then we go on to have the students play this interactive game about decisions they could make during a school day to be responsible digital citizens.
Most of the students say they feel sympathetic for Joe, the main character in the movie and game. However what we talk to the students about is the difference between sympathy (feeling sorry for someone) and empathy (feeling with someone and understanding his or her perspective), and what they should do if they experience bullying themselves or if they are bystanders to bullying. It's important for students to know that they are not alone and that there are responsible adults who will help them deal with these situations before they get out of hand.
We are Teachers
We are Teachers is a wonderful social network for educators that I'm just now starting to find out about due to the magic of collaboration. Luckily, I came across this in reading the comments online from one of my top 10 lists that was on T & L's site.
This is a network that is filled w/ innovative ideas on a number of different subject. Also, this community is filled w/ different educators from around the world so an array of ideas can be found here. Plus, people can receive prizes & cash by submitting their ideas and lessons.
I highly recommend checking out We are Teachers by clicking here, as it is one of the better online communities to come around in a while
10 Great Free Resources from Discovery Education
Discovery Education is an excellent resource for teachers. Many teachers know about Discovery Streaming, the Discovery Channel, or evenDiscovery Middle School Science. All of these are fee based services, but Discovery Education also has some great free resources for any teacher. Here are my top 10 (out of the 25 or so they have that are free).
1. Web 20.10 -http://web2010.discoveryeducation.com/ - Access great content on Internet Safety, Media Literacy and links to Web 2.0 Tool. The site is rich with little flash videos detailing the explanation and use of Web 2.0 Tools in the classroom. This is a great resource for new teachers and veterans to learn about Web 2.0 tools.
2. New Teacher Survival Central -http://discoveryeducation.com/survival/ - Includes Tech Tools for teachers and students, New teacher blogs, classroom tools, and curriculum resources, Tips/tricks on: Classroom Environment, Classroom Management, Parent Communication, Cool tips on Green Screens and more!
3. Science Fair Central -http://school.discoveryeducation.com/sciencefaircentral/?campaign=SFC - Great ideas how to create, launch and facilitate a Science Fair, including tips and ideas for student projects.
4. Discovery Education Lesson Plans -http://school.discoveryeducation.com/lessonplans/- lesson plans for all different subjects, sorted by K-5, 6-8, and 9-12.
5. Siemens STEM Academy -http://stem.discoveryeducation.com/ - Premier online community designed to foster student achievement in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math through the collaboration of STEM educators and sharing of best practices. Great resources, ideas, and more.
6. Kathy Schrock's guide for Educators -http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/- Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators is a categorized list of sites useful for enhancing curriculum and professional growth. It is updated often to include the best sites for teaching and learning.
7. Science of Everyday Life -http://scienceofeverydaylife.discoveryeducation.com/- Everywhere you look, there are wonders both big and small just waiting to be explored. Your school, your home, and your community are all boundless laboratories full of mystery, excitement and surprise. Join us as we uncover the magic all around us and tap the innovator within us…in the Science of Everyday Life. What a great way to connect science to students' lives and experiences by connecting science to everyday things.
8. Worksheets to Go -http://school.discoveryeducation.com/teachingtools/worksheetgenerator/wtg/index.html- great worksheets and activities for teachers to use. Sorted by subject and topic.
9. Puzzlemaker -http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/- create your own puzzles. Create and print customized word search, criss-cross, math puzzles, and more—using your own word lists.
10. NASA at 50 -http://discoveryeducation.com/NASAat50/ - NASA at 50 highlights key innovations and milestones in chemistry, physics, engineering, and space exploration from NASA's fifty-year history. Each clip serves as a gateway for further learning in science and history and promotes critical thinking and inquiry as essential components of scientific literacy.
Students can enjoy NASA at 50 in video or audio formats that are compatible with common portable media players. In addition, teacher's guides are provided for each clip to facilitate integration of this exciting and engaging content into lesson plans.
Training resources for using Discovery Education resources:
Discovery Education Training Resources on Educational Technology Guy.
Lots of resources, articles, how-to’s, links, and more.
Weekly Core Subjects Resources
I have been trying to think of a new weekly post for this school year (it has taken till October to figure it out), but I thought it would be great to share resources related to specific content areas, especially the core subjects. Below you will find a resource for the four core subjects - Math, Science, English, Social Studies. Not that other subjects are not important, and not that I won't add on as the year goes on, I just wanted to start with these four to start out.
Social Studies
101 Great Sites for Social Studies Classes - A very valuable resource for all social studies teachers. Links with short descriptions of the website so you know what you are getting into. They are broken down by subject and topic area and split onto four pages. A great starting point for finding primary sources and resources for your classroom. Share with the social studies teachers in your district.
Science
Biology Corner - Shared through my RSS feed on theEducational Technology Guy, a great resource for teachers. I even had a teacher in my building tell me they thought it was a great resource. The site has loads of lessons and worksheets available to download. There is also a blog with useful tips and tricks for teaching biology. A handy resource for science teachers.
English
Neotake - An eBook search engine. You can search for a title of a book or an author and get both a list of results as well as images. It list a price and the format (site available) for the eBooks. You can narrow down your results as well. Seems like a useful search tool for finding eBooks, considering I think this will be the future of student textbooks this might be a useful site to keep handy.
Mathematics
Plus Magazine and Tools - Shared through my RSS feed onFree Technology for Teachers, this is a great resource to share how mathematics is used in the everyday world. On the site you can request to receive free posters, listen toPodcast, and play puzzles related to math. A very useful site for math teachers to explain how math is not just something you need to care about when in school.
Homework and Charlie Brown
While browsing online for the Charlie Brown teacher voice as a joke to a friend, I came across this fantastic video about the different ways children approach a book report. I remember book reports being one of the most popular assessments when I was in school. Now, I see my niece struggling with them. She hates them and my sister and her often fight about her finishing them correctly.
PopoutLet’s look at the learners…
I really like this video because I think we are familiar with these different types of learners in our classes. Most students aren’t wild about homework. In the video, even the ones who get the homework all respond, “Homework, yuck!!” The video shows four different approaches to the homework:
Lucy
This is how my niece used to approach book reports by filling in as many words as possible. She would often count the words over and over again and try to find ways to sneakily add more. Like Lucy, I think book reports made her hate reading the book and I fear sometimes that some assignments we give and the way we give them make our learners hate learning. My niece loves to read and you’ll find her reading a graphic novel daily. She has also consistently been one of the top scorers in all her standardized tests, especially in reading. I’d attribute this more to her daily reading habits, since we have always received calls about her failure to turn in homework. We are fortunate she goes to a charter school that has allowed us to let her turn it in by the end of the six week period. However, I wonder if she does well in assignments and shows achievement in other ways if she should really have to do all the homework she is assigned?
Schroeder
Does his homework on a computer instead of writing it out like Lucy. He struggles with the report because he either did not read the book or doesn’t remember reading it. He decides to equate it to a book he does remember, Robin Hood. This brings up another point about giving students a choice. Do we give our students enough choices how they will approach a subject and what ways they will explore the subject outside of class?
Charlie Brown
He’s the perfect student that represents Alfie Kohn’s anti-homework arguments. Charlie Brown argues he “should be outside playing, getting sunshine and fresh air.” He also decides to leave it to the last minute.
Linus
Many educators would like their students to approach all assignments like Linus who has the curiosity to go beyond the book and link to his previous learning. He thinks about the book report and does research before even typing a word. However, most students aren’t Linus and even if they do approach assignments like this does this make the assignment valuable for most of the students?
Why do teachers give homework?
Like me, I know many teachers hate the word homework. I use the word “Challenges,” sound familiar from my posts? All the challenges I give are listed in my various class wikis and are optional. I list several types of homework such as an online quiz, video, writing assignment, field trip, podcast, and so forth. My students can choose which they want to do and if they want to do them. They don’t get graded on the assignments but it helps them improve their English skills so the majority will choose to do the challenges. For my young learners, I have the parents do the challenges with them. I give these “challenges” because I believe my students need opportunities outside the classroom to practice and apply the English they learn, especially since they live in Germany. I don’t have to do this because my language institute has no grading or homework policy but I have seen my students achieve a lot in a year and I believe the weekly wiki tasks help them.
Shaun Wilden (@shaunwilden), a teacher trainer, recently asked various educators, Why do you set homework? These were their responses in a Wallwisher.
If you enjoyed this post, you may want to check out Alfie Kohn’s thoughts about why teachers shouldn’t give homework.
Challenge:
Add to Shaun’s Wallwisher and reflect on the homework you give this year.
If you enjoyed this post, you may want to subscribe for FREE to receive regular updates!
What are your thoughts about giving homework?
How to Manage a One-Computer Classroom
With budget cuts all around us, it is not unusual for many teachers to face a common dilemma – one computer with a class of 25+ students. Have no fear – one computer classrooms are more manageable than you might think! There are several tricks you can do to help your classroom run smoothly, despite this obstacle. The following are a few tips I’ve compiled to help you manage a one computer classroom!Tip #1: Be sure to place the computer in an easily accessible and easily supervised place. This will prevent over-crowding for students using the computer in the classroom. It will also allow the teacher to easily assist students and keep an eye on what is being done.
Tip #2: Another strategy is to create “stations” or multiple activities, using the computer as only one of the tools necessary to complete assignments. Teachers can encourage the use of more traditional resources, such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, magazines, newspapers, and books within the school library. After a designated amount of time, students/groups should rotate to a different station.
Tip #3: Post a schedule of computer usage. Teachers should designate a certain amount of time for each student to have a turn using the computer in the classroom. For older students, why not make it the student’s responsibility to keep track of their appointed time?
Tip #4: Project the computer screen onto a larger screen so the entire class can see. This is especially helpful if you have an interactive white board, such as a Promethean ActivBoard, which can help take your lesson plan to the next level. This is a great way for teachers to engage students with vivid images, video and audio while using a computer in the classroom.
Tip #5: Use an auto response system. A great way teachers can engage students is to include lessons designed for group participation. With an auto response system, students can further contribute right from their seats! Mouse Mischief, a free auto response system, allows teachers to integrate surveys, polls, questions, and drawing activity slides into PowerPoint lessons.
Tip #6: Be extremely organized and plan carefully. Perhaps this is the most important tip because teachers must make sure things run as smoothly as possible in the classroom. Providing step-by-step instructions and examples of what work should be completed can help ensure that all students are prepared before it is their turn at the computer station.
Related Stories
Looking for Lesson Materials? Try OER Commons
Earlier this week I mentioned on Twitter that I had introduced a couple of my colleagues to the Open Educational Resources Commons. They took off running with some of the things they found on theOER Commons. In fact, it was through one of them that I learned about Math Open Reference which was linked to a mathematics lesson on OER Commons.
OER Commons is a place for educators to post lessons and lesson materials that others can use. There are thousands of lessons organized by content area and grade level. After you've made your initial selections of content area and grade level you can refine your search by lesson type, material, media format, and usage rights.
Applications for Education
One of the great qualities about teachers is that, for the most part, we're very willing to share our ideas and lesson resources with each other. OER Commons is a great online example of that quality found in teachers. If you're a new teacher or you're teaching a new grade or subject this year, you're probably trying to develop a lot of new lessons this year. If you're looking for ideas and or materials for those lessons, give OER Commons a look.
Adobe's Project ROME Looks Promising
Last Monday I bookmarked an article on ZDNet about Adobe's new Project ROME for Education to read later. I now wish I hadn't waited. After trying it out for the better part of an hour, I can describeProject ROME as a combination of the best elements ofGlogster, Apple's Pages, Keynote, and touch of GIMP thrown-in for good measure.
Project ROME allows users to create multimedia documents and presentations. ROME can also be used to create quizzes and to design websites. Users can build documents that include images, videos, and animations. Animations can be imported from an existing file or created from scratch within ROME. Resizing of elements within any project in ROME is a simple matter of drag and drop resizing. Arranging elements is also a drag and drop process. Adding elements to a project in ROME is done by selecting from a large series of drop-down menus. Some parts of using ROME are quite intuitive, but as you might expect with a program that has many features, there are parts of ROME that will require you to follow a tutorial the first time you try it. Watch the video below for an overview ofProject ROME.
Popout
Right now Project ROME is free, but I don't expect it to stay free forever. ROME is available to use online and as a desktop application.
Applications for Education
As the demo template shows, Project ROME could be used to create mathematics quizzes that contain animations. You could also use ROME to create a quiz or set of discussion prompts that contain videos. ROME could be used by students to create multimedia presentations or documents.
Weekly Core Subjects Resources
With this edition I will include a fantastic site for art teachers who might be interested in having students create computer generated art.
Mathematics
ACT Math Question of the Day - This site is great for understanding the concepts and problems that students will face when taking the ACT. It is broken down by the different math curriculum based on the percentage it would appear on the ACT. Each problem is then in a Flash video with an explanation of how to get the correct answer. These make GREAT bell ringer activities. Students can complete it and then be shown how to solve it to check their answers.
Science
Sixty Symbols is a site that has videos related to various symbols in physics, science, and Astronomy. These videos would be very useful in high school science classrooms. It helps to clarify many of the confusing symbols that we see in science classrooms.
English
Interactive Folio: Romeo and Juliet. Found on Free Technology For Teachers, this is a great interactive for learning about Romeo and Juliet. The interactive does a fantastic job of helping students interpret the text from Shakespeare. You can search through the various Acts, Scenes, and Page numbers if looking for a specific resource.
Social Studies
American Journeys: Eye Witness Accounts of Early American Exploration and Settlement. Primary documents from the Vikings all the way up to the 1800's. This site is fantastic for finding resources about early America. There are several documents and images that you can search through, as well as a Teacher Resource area. This would be a great starting point for research.
Art
Sculptris is a 3D sculpting software for your computer that you can download and use to create 3D images. I highly recommend viewing the video to see it in action.
Documentary Heaven
Documentary Heaven is a site dedicated to providing documentary movies for free on the web. You can search for movies based on several different categories and topics. These videos are found at other locations and then embedded onto this site. I will warn you that several videos in certain topics might be deemed inappropriate, but that does not take away from the educational value that several hundred of the other videos can provide in your classroom. My suggestion is that you take a look at the videos for yourself and see which ones you might find useful.
Home to School Connection Guide from Edutopia
Edutopia recently released a new, free PDF guide to improving communication between schools and parents. Edutopia's Home-to-School Connections Guidefeatures ten ideas that you can implement right away to improve your communications with parents. Some of the ideas included are using Facebook to connect, using Google Voice, and building partnerships with parents. Readers of this blog may recognize Larry Ferlazzo's name in the section about building partnerships with parents. Overall, Edutopia's Home-to-School Connections Guideoffers good practical advice for improving communications between schools and parents.
Encyclomedia
Encyclomedia is a video encyclopedia that is great for searching for articles and videos on any given topic (think United Streaming). What separates this from just any other search engine is to then take those results such as video and then share it w/ others via an embed code.
Below are the results from a search on the term, technology...
I highly recommend checking out Encyclomedia by clickinghere!!!
For a much more detailed review check out Richard Byrne'sblog.
A Teacher’s Field Guide to Parents
I got a real kick out of Jason Flom's blog post, A Teacher's Field Guide to Parents, over at the Ecology of Education site. Recognize any of these parent types?
- Burger King parents. They want it their way, and right now!
- Chicken Little parents. "The sky is falling, the sky is falling."
- Flintstone parents. "Well, back when I was in this grade, the way that teacher did it was... "
- Grass-is-greener parents: "Oh my, Mrs. Johnson does it much differently than you do..."
- Barometer parents: Knows the feelings of all of the other parents in the class.
- Perfectionist parents: There's always something they can find for you to do... just a little bit better.
- Bueller parents: What parents?
Jason describes each category in funny detail, and I think you'll laugh along with him as you spot these parent types in your own life.
Check 'er out; cool read.
What do you think?
Recognize any of these types?
Care to add any others?
Weekly Core Subject Resources
Science
- From NBC Learn, the Science of the NFL. This site contains videos that help explain the science of football. This would be a great way to increase interest in science for several students in your classroom. You can also visitLessonopoly for teacher resources to go along with the videos. The final video will be posted this Friday.
Social Studies
- From National Geographic here is a great resource for theUnderground Railroad where you get to experience the journey as a slave. Another great resource is the History Lab. This site is a homepage for teachers to learn from other teachers how students are learning social studies through the use of digital tools. You can search by subject matter and by digital tool.
English
-Want to help students become faster readers and increase the words per minute that they are able to read? ZAP Reader does just that. You can copy and paste text from a website and it will display them at a speed you determine to help you improve your reading speed. See the video below for a better understanding. Another great site is Citebite. Students can copy and paste text into a text box. Then copy and paste the URL. When you click the MakeCitebite, you get a link to the page and a highlight of the text. Be a great way for students to cite information for a paper.
Popout
Mathematics
- A Maths Dictionary for Kids is a great resource for learning common math terminology that students come across. Search via Letter and then by term. It provides the definition and examples for students. Would be a great way to introduce a math vocabulary word each day.
All Subjects
- 200 Free Movies Online - These are some of the classics by some well known producers and directors. Some are also not as well known documentaries and Indies.
Weekly Core Subjects Resources
This is my third edition of links/resources related to specific core curriculum. I wasn't sure if I would be able to sustain this, but week after week I find something new that I can share with others. Hope you find one useful.
Science
I have two this week for Science. Scale of the Universe is an interesting interactive that allows you to see how big the universe is and how small we are. I highly recommend sharing with students. There is some background music, so you might want to have speakers on mute. The second resource is Encyclopedia of Earth. A great resource for geography and biology classes. You can search for articles by subject and also find resources for educators as well. If you are really motivated, you can become a contributor to the site as well.
Social Studies
The Supreme Court by PBS is an interactive website available for teachers to have a better understanding of the Supreme. On the site you can find videos, games, time-lines, and lesson plans. Another neat feature is that you can create a log-in and guess how the court will decide on this seasons cases. This would be a great site for both Civics and U.S. History.
English
Write for Ten is a website for free-writing. The idea is to get people to just write for ten minutes and then share that on the web page. The other idea is to help you work on a long document by writing on it for ten minutes at a time. You will have to create an account to participate, but even if you don't, the concept of writing for ten minutes would be a great addition to the classroom. This site might help foster some ideas.
Mathematics
The following is a site that has several Math Interactives that could be used with an Airliner or SMARTBoard. "This multimedia resource includes interactive math activities, print activities, learning strategies, and videos that illustrate how math is used in everyday life. The resource addresses the following mathematics topics: Fractions; Integers; Percentages; Rate/Ratio/Proportion; Square Roots; Exponents; Patterns; Algebra; Linear Equations; Polynomials; Angles; Circles; Surface Area and Volume; Area and Perimeter; Triangles; Pythagoras; Trigonometry; Similarity and Congruence; Transformations; Shape Classification; Data Display and Graphs; Central Tendency and Distribution; and Probability."
Open Study - Create or Join Online Study Groups
Open Study is a new collaborative study service developed and funded in part by Georgia Tech, Emory University, and the National Science Foundation. At its most basic Open Study is a message board for students in search of help answering difficult questions. Students could use it just for that purpose, but Open Study provides more than that. Open Study offers students the option to create or join online study groups, subscribe to other students' updates, and provides students with a place to record their notes online. Students can register for Open Study using their email addresses or connect to Open Study with their Facebook accounts.
Watch the video below for an introduction to Open Study.
Popout
Applications for Education
Open Study could be very helpful for students that need help beyond the times when their teachers are available to answer questions. Open Study could also be helpful for homeschool students and for students involved in independent studies.
Here are some related resources that may be of interest to you:
Ediscio - Collaboratively Create Flashcards
Flashcard Flash - Search for Flashcard Sets
Quizlet - Create and Share Flashcards
Creative Commons: What Every Educator Needs to Know
Getting an entire school on board with a digital communication platform aka classroom blog is a PROCESS. A (baby) step by (baby) step process… As the interaction between teachers, school, students, parent and global community increases, so does the need for other “little” pieces of 21st century literacies. For example
- Social and global networking
- Global awareness
- Social Bookmarking
- Copyright
As teachers and students become PRODUCERS of content on their blogs it is becoming essential that we model good behavior when it comes to Copyright issues. Rodd Lucier, aka as thecleversheep ( @thecleversheep on Twitter) has contributed a fabulous presentation to the K12 Online Conference 2010.
Creative Commons: What Every Educator Needs to Know
Here is presentation I had created in the past to give a brief overview of different copyright licenses.
The two videos mentioned in the slideshow are:
Copyright and Fair Use
Popout
Creative Commons: Wanna Work Together?
Popout
“Technology Tools to Get Teachers Started”
Technology Tools to Get Teachers Started is nice post over at Edutopia.
I’m adding it to My Best Posts For Tech Novices (Plus A Few From Other People).
7 Must-Watch EdTech Videos
With so many viral videos swirling around on the web, you've likely missed a few really great ones for education - particularly technology and education. Here are 7 must-watch EdTech videos for
any
EVERY teacher. In no particular order... 1. Mr. Winkle Wakes A short story about the resistance of change in education. Mr. Winkle awakes from a long slumber to see how technology had changed the world - but not the classroom. 2. A Brave New World Wide Web One educator's journey to becoming a 21st century learner and teacher. 3. Introducing the Book A comic look at how "new technology", even basic technology, will always have a learning curve. 4. A Vision of Students Today A popular web video that gives a short summary and a unique perspective of today's students. 5. Did You Know 4.0 No EdTech video listing would be complete without one of the "Did You Know" videos. 6. The EdTech Community is Living in the 19th Century An open call to educators to take a look at the "system" that we know today. 7. The Machine is Us/ing UsWeb 2.0 In just under 5 minutes. This video shows how content is changing with advances in technology.
Six Visual Dictionaries and Thesauri
Here are six visual dictionaries and thesauri that can help your students better understand the meanings of words.
Snappy Words is a free visual dictionary and thesaurus. Enter any word or phrase into theSnappy Words search box and it will create a web of related words, phrases, and definitions. Hover your cursor over any word or phrase in the web to read its definition. Click and drag any node to explore other branches of the web. Double click on a node and it will generate new web branches.
Visuwords uses a web design to show users the definitions of words and the connections between words. To use Visuwords just type a word into the search box and Visuwords will generate a web of related words. Place your cursor over any of the words and the definition appears. Use the color-coded key to understand the connections between the words in any web.Lexipedia, likeVisuwords, provides the definitions of words along with a webbed diagram of related words and their definitions. In addition to definitions and diagrams, Lexipedia offers audio pronunciations of words although when I tested it the audio didn't seem to be working properly. In my side-by-side comparison of Lexipedia andVisuwords, both performed equally well, but occasionally offered different definitions and connections for the same word.Merriam Webster's Visual Dictionaryis divided into fifteen thematic categories containing more than 6,000 words defined and accompanied by images. You can find words and definitions by browsing through the categorized images or by using the text search bar.Wordia is a free visual, video dictionary. Wordia features a selection of user-submitted and professionally created videos explaining the meaning of a word. The videos focus on the everyday use of words while the text accompanying each video provides the dictionary definition of the word.Got Brainy features two sections; Brainy Flix and Brainy Pics. Brainy Pics is comprised of images that demonstrate the meaning of a word. Most of the pictures are submitted by students. Brainy Flix is comprised of short videos that illustrate the meaning of words. Just like with Brainy Pics, most of the videos are submitted by students.
Here are some related items that may be of interest to you:
10 Resources for ESL & Foreign Language Students
22 Frames - Captioned Videos & More for ESL
"I understand how you feel" - The PYP Attitude Empathy
While we deal with eSafety issues in many of our classes, and while we promote a responsible use of technology for all students and educate students not to use technology to bully or tease people, we do explicity teach about cyberbullying in Grade 5 in our Sharing the Planet unit of inquiry to support their central idea that "finding peaceful solutions to problems leads to a better quality of human life". We use the following movie from Digizen to prompt a discussion:Popout
and then we go on to have the students play this interactive game about decisions they could make during a school day to be responsible digital citizens.
Most of the students say they feel sympathetic for Joe, the main character in the movie and game. However what we talk to the students about is the difference between sympathy (feeling sorry for someone) and empathy (feeling with someone and understanding his or her perspective), and what they should do if they experience bullying themselves or if they are bystanders to bullying. It's important for students to know that they are not alone and that there are responsible adults who will help them deal with these situations before they get out of hand.
We are Teachers
We are Teachers is a wonderful social network for educators that I'm just now starting to find out about due to the magic of collaboration. Luckily, I came across this in reading the comments online from one of my top 10 lists that was on T & L's site.
This is a network that is filled w/ innovative ideas on a number of different subject. Also, this community is filled w/ different educators from around the world so an array of ideas can be found here. Plus, people can receive prizes & cash by submitting their ideas and lessons.
I highly recommend checking out We are Teachers by clicking here, as it is one of the better online communities to come around in a while
10 Great Free Resources from Discovery Education
Discovery Education is an excellent resource for teachers. Many teachers know about Discovery Streaming, the Discovery Channel, or evenDiscovery Middle School Science. All of these are fee based services, but Discovery Education also has some great free resources for any teacher. Here are my top 10 (out of the 25 or so they have that are free).
1. Web 20.10 -http://web2010.discoveryeducation.com/ - Access great content on Internet Safety, Media Literacy and links to Web 2.0 Tool. The site is rich with little flash videos detailing the explanation and use of Web 2.0 Tools in the classroom. This is a great resource for new teachers and veterans to learn about Web 2.0 tools.
2. New Teacher Survival Central -http://discoveryeducation.com/survival/ - Includes Tech Tools for teachers and students, New teacher blogs, classroom tools, and curriculum resources, Tips/tricks on: Classroom Environment, Classroom Management, Parent Communication, Cool tips on Green Screens and more!
3. Science Fair Central -http://school.discoveryeducation.com/sciencefaircentral/?campaign=SFC - Great ideas how to create, launch and facilitate a Science Fair, including tips and ideas for student projects.
4. Discovery Education Lesson Plans -http://school.discoveryeducation.com/lessonplans/- lesson plans for all different subjects, sorted by K-5, 6-8, and 9-12.
5. Siemens STEM Academy -http://stem.discoveryeducation.com/ - Premier online community designed to foster student achievement in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math through the collaboration of STEM educators and sharing of best practices. Great resources, ideas, and more.
6. Kathy Schrock's guide for Educators -http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/- Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators is a categorized list of sites useful for enhancing curriculum and professional growth. It is updated often to include the best sites for teaching and learning.
7. Science of Everyday Life -http://scienceofeverydaylife.discoveryeducation.com/- Everywhere you look, there are wonders both big and small just waiting to be explored. Your school, your home, and your community are all boundless laboratories full of mystery, excitement and surprise. Join us as we uncover the magic all around us and tap the innovator within us…in the Science of Everyday Life. What a great way to connect science to students' lives and experiences by connecting science to everyday things.
8. Worksheets to Go -http://school.discoveryeducation.com/teachingtools/worksheetgenerator/wtg/index.html- great worksheets and activities for teachers to use. Sorted by subject and topic.
9. Puzzlemaker -http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/- create your own puzzles. Create and print customized word search, criss-cross, math puzzles, and more—using your own word lists.
10. NASA at 50 -http://discoveryeducation.com/NASAat50/ - NASA at 50 highlights key innovations and milestones in chemistry, physics, engineering, and space exploration from NASA's fifty-year history. Each clip serves as a gateway for further learning in science and history and promotes critical thinking and inquiry as essential components of scientific literacy.
Students can enjoy NASA at 50 in video or audio formats that are compatible with common portable media players. In addition, teacher's guides are provided for each clip to facilitate integration of this exciting and engaging content into lesson plans.
Training resources for using Discovery Education resources:
Discovery Education Training Resources on Educational Technology Guy.
Lots of resources, articles, how-to’s, links, and more.
Weekly Core Subjects Resources
I have been trying to think of a new weekly post for this school year (it has taken till October to figure it out), but I thought it would be great to share resources related to specific content areas, especially the core subjects. Below you will find a resource for the four core subjects - Math, Science, English, Social Studies. Not that other subjects are not important, and not that I won't add on as the year goes on, I just wanted to start with these four to start out.
Social Studies
101 Great Sites for Social Studies Classes - A very valuable resource for all social studies teachers. Links with short descriptions of the website so you know what you are getting into. They are broken down by subject and topic area and split onto four pages. A great starting point for finding primary sources and resources for your classroom. Share with the social studies teachers in your district.
Science
Biology Corner - Shared through my RSS feed on theEducational Technology Guy, a great resource for teachers. I even had a teacher in my building tell me they thought it was a great resource. The site has loads of lessons and worksheets available to download. There is also a blog with useful tips and tricks for teaching biology. A handy resource for science teachers.
English
Neotake - An eBook search engine. You can search for a title of a book or an author and get both a list of results as well as images. It list a price and the format (site available) for the eBooks. You can narrow down your results as well. Seems like a useful search tool for finding eBooks, considering I think this will be the future of student textbooks this might be a useful site to keep handy.
Mathematics
Plus Magazine and Tools - Shared through my RSS feed onFree Technology for Teachers, this is a great resource to share how mathematics is used in the everyday world. On the site you can request to receive free posters, listen toPodcast, and play puzzles related to math. A very useful site for math teachers to explain how math is not just something you need to care about when in school.
Looking for Lesson Materials? Try OER Commons
Earlier this week I mentioned on Twitter that I had introduced a couple of my colleagues to the Open Educational Resources Commons. They took off running with some of the things they found on theOER Commons. In fact, it was through one of them that I learned about Math Open Reference which was linked to a mathematics lesson on OER Commons.
OER Commons is a place for educators to post lessons and lesson materials that others can use. There are thousands of lessons organized by content area and grade level. After you've made your initial selections of content area and grade level you can refine your search by lesson type, material, media format, and usage rights.
Applications for Education
One of the great qualities about teachers is that, for the most part, we're very willing to share our ideas and lesson resources with each other. OER Commons is a great online example of that quality found in teachers. If you're a new teacher or you're teaching a new grade or subject this year, you're probably trying to develop a lot of new lessons this year. If you're looking for ideas and or materials for those lessons, give OER Commons a look.
Adobe's Project ROME Looks Promising
Last Monday I bookmarked an article on ZDNet about Adobe's new Project ROME for Education to read later. I now wish I hadn't waited. After trying it out for the better part of an hour, I can describeProject ROME as a combination of the best elements ofGlogster, Apple's Pages, Keynote, and touch of GIMP thrown-in for good measure.
Project ROME allows users to create multimedia documents and presentations. ROME can also be used to create quizzes and to design websites. Users can build documents that include images, videos, and animations. Animations can be imported from an existing file or created from scratch within ROME. Resizing of elements within any project in ROME is a simple matter of drag and drop resizing. Arranging elements is also a drag and drop process. Adding elements to a project in ROME is done by selecting from a large series of drop-down menus. Some parts of using ROME are quite intuitive, but as you might expect with a program that has many features, there are parts of ROME that will require you to follow a tutorial the first time you try it. Watch the video below for an overview ofProject ROME.
Popout
Right now Project ROME is free, but I don't expect it to stay free forever. ROME is available to use online and as a desktop application.
Applications for Education
As the demo template shows, Project ROME could be used to create mathematics quizzes that contain animations. You could also use ROME to create a quiz or set of discussion prompts that contain videos. ROME could be used by students to create multimedia presentations or documents.
Weekly Core Subjects Resources
With this edition I will include a fantastic site for art teachers who might be interested in having students create computer generated art.
Mathematics
ACT Math Question of the Day - This site is great for understanding the concepts and problems that students will face when taking the ACT. It is broken down by the different math curriculum based on the percentage it would appear on the ACT. Each problem is then in a Flash video with an explanation of how to get the correct answer. These make GREAT bell ringer activities. Students can complete it and then be shown how to solve it to check their answers.
Science
Sixty Symbols is a site that has videos related to various symbols in physics, science, and Astronomy. These videos would be very useful in high school science classrooms. It helps to clarify many of the confusing symbols that we see in science classrooms.
English
Interactive Folio: Romeo and Juliet. Found on Free Technology For Teachers, this is a great interactive for learning about Romeo and Juliet. The interactive does a fantastic job of helping students interpret the text from Shakespeare. You can search through the various Acts, Scenes, and Page numbers if looking for a specific resource.
Social Studies
American Journeys: Eye Witness Accounts of Early American Exploration and Settlement. Primary documents from the Vikings all the way up to the 1800's. This site is fantastic for finding resources about early America. There are several documents and images that you can search through, as well as a Teacher Resource area. This would be a great starting point for research.
Art
Sculptris is a 3D sculpting software for your computer that you can download and use to create 3D images. I highly recommend viewing the video to see it in action.
Documentary Heaven
Documentary Heaven is a site dedicated to providing documentary movies for free on the web. You can search for movies based on several different categories and topics. These videos are found at other locations and then embedded onto this site. I will warn you that several videos in certain topics might be deemed inappropriate, but that does not take away from the educational value that several hundred of the other videos can provide in your classroom. My suggestion is that you take a look at the videos for yourself and see which ones you might find useful.
Home to School Connection Guide from Edutopia
Edutopia recently released a new, free PDF guide to improving communication between schools and parents. Edutopia's Home-to-School Connections Guidefeatures ten ideas that you can implement right away to improve your communications with parents. Some of the ideas included are using Facebook to connect, using Google Voice, and building partnerships with parents. Readers of this blog may recognize Larry Ferlazzo's name in the section about building partnerships with parents. Overall, Edutopia's Home-to-School Connections Guideoffers good practical advice for improving communications between schools and parents.
Encyclomedia
Encyclomedia is a video encyclopedia that is great for searching for articles and videos on any given topic (think United Streaming). What separates this from just any other search engine is to then take those results such as video and then share it w/ others via an embed code.
Below are the results from a search on the term, technology...
I highly recommend checking out Encyclomedia by clickinghere!!!
For a much more detailed review check out Richard Byrne'sblog.
A Teacher’s Field Guide to Parents
I got a real kick out of Jason Flom's blog post, A Teacher's Field Guide to Parents, over at the Ecology of Education site. Recognize any of these parent types?
- Burger King parents. They want it their way, and right now!
- Chicken Little parents. "The sky is falling, the sky is falling."
- Flintstone parents. "Well, back when I was in this grade, the way that teacher did it was... "
- Grass-is-greener parents: "Oh my, Mrs. Johnson does it much differently than you do..."
- Barometer parents: Knows the feelings of all of the other parents in the class.
- Perfectionist parents: There's always something they can find for you to do... just a little bit better.
- Bueller parents: What parents?
Jason describes each category in funny detail, and I think you'll laugh along with him as you spot these parent types in your own life.
Check 'er out; cool read.
What do you think?
Recognize any of these types?
Care to add any others?
Weekly Core Subject Resources
Science
- From NBC Learn, the Science of the NFL. This site contains videos that help explain the science of football. This would be a great way to increase interest in science for several students in your classroom. You can also visitLessonopoly for teacher resources to go along with the videos. The final video will be posted this Friday.
Social Studies
- From National Geographic here is a great resource for theUnderground Railroad where you get to experience the journey as a slave. Another great resource is the History Lab. This site is a homepage for teachers to learn from other teachers how students are learning social studies through the use of digital tools. You can search by subject matter and by digital tool.
English
-Want to help students become faster readers and increase the words per minute that they are able to read? ZAP Reader does just that. You can copy and paste text from a website and it will display them at a speed you determine to help you improve your reading speed. See the video below for a better understanding. Another great site is Citebite. Students can copy and paste text into a text box. Then copy and paste the URL. When you click the MakeCitebite, you get a link to the page and a highlight of the text. Be a great way for students to cite information for a paper.
Popout
Mathematics
- A Maths Dictionary for Kids is a great resource for learning common math terminology that students come across. Search via Letter and then by term. It provides the definition and examples for students. Would be a great way to introduce a math vocabulary word each day.
All Subjects
- 200 Free Movies Online - These are some of the classics by some well known producers and directors. Some are also not as well known documentaries and Indies.
Weekly Core Subjects Resources
This is my third edition of links/resources related to specific core curriculum. I wasn't sure if I would be able to sustain this, but week after week I find something new that I can share with others. Hope you find one useful.
Science
I have two this week for Science. Scale of the Universe is an interesting interactive that allows you to see how big the universe is and how small we are. I highly recommend sharing with students. There is some background music, so you might want to have speakers on mute. The second resource is Encyclopedia of Earth. A great resource for geography and biology classes. You can search for articles by subject and also find resources for educators as well. If you are really motivated, you can become a contributor to the site as well.
Social Studies
The Supreme Court by PBS is an interactive website available for teachers to have a better understanding of the Supreme. On the site you can find videos, games, time-lines, and lesson plans. Another neat feature is that you can create a log-in and guess how the court will decide on this seasons cases. This would be a great site for both Civics and U.S. History.
English
Write for Ten is a website for free-writing. The idea is to get people to just write for ten minutes and then share that on the web page. The other idea is to help you work on a long document by writing on it for ten minutes at a time. You will have to create an account to participate, but even if you don't, the concept of writing for ten minutes would be a great addition to the classroom. This site might help foster some ideas.
Mathematics
The following is a site that has several Math Interactives that could be used with an Airliner or SMARTBoard. "This multimedia resource includes interactive math activities, print activities, learning strategies, and videos that illustrate how math is used in everyday life. The resource addresses the following mathematics topics: Fractions; Integers; Percentages; Rate/Ratio/Proportion; Square Roots; Exponents; Patterns; Algebra; Linear Equations; Polynomials; Angles; Circles; Surface Area and Volume; Area and Perimeter; Triangles; Pythagoras; Trigonometry; Similarity and Congruence; Transformations; Shape Classification; Data Display and Graphs; Central Tendency and Distribution; and Probability."
Open Study - Create or Join Online Study Groups
Open Study is a new collaborative study service developed and funded in part by Georgia Tech, Emory University, and the National Science Foundation. At its most basic Open Study is a message board for students in search of help answering difficult questions. Students could use it just for that purpose, but Open Study provides more than that. Open Study offers students the option to create or join online study groups, subscribe to other students' updates, and provides students with a place to record their notes online. Students can register for Open Study using their email addresses or connect to Open Study with their Facebook accounts.
Watch the video below for an introduction to Open Study.
Popout
Applications for Education
Open Study could be very helpful for students that need help beyond the times when their teachers are available to answer questions. Open Study could also be helpful for homeschool students and for students involved in independent studies.
Here are some related resources that may be of interest to you:
Ediscio - Collaboratively Create Flashcards
Flashcard Flash - Search for Flashcard Sets
Quizlet - Create and Share Flashcards
Creative Commons: What Every Educator Needs to Know
Getting an entire school on board with a digital communication platform aka classroom blog is a PROCESS. A (baby) step by (baby) step process… As the interaction between teachers, school, students, parent and global community increases, so does the need for other “little” pieces of 21st century literacies. For example
- Social and global networking
- Global awareness
- Social Bookmarking
- Copyright
As teachers and students become PRODUCERS of content on their blogs it is becoming essential that we model good behavior when it comes to Copyright issues. Rodd Lucier, aka as thecleversheep ( @thecleversheep on Twitter) has contributed a fabulous presentation to the K12 Online Conference 2010.
Creative Commons: What Every Educator Needs to Know
Here is presentation I had created in the past to give a brief overview of different copyright licenses.
The two videos mentioned in the slideshow are:
Copyright and Fair Use
Popout
Creative Commons: Wanna Work Together?
Popout
“Technology Tools to Get Teachers Started”
Technology Tools to Get Teachers Started is nice post over at Edutopia.
I’m adding it to My Best Posts For Tech Novices (Plus A Few From Other People).
7 Must-Watch EdTech Videos
With so many viral videos swirling around on the web, you've likely missed a few really great ones for education - particularly technology and education. Here are 7 must-watch EdTech videos for
any
EVERY teacher. In no particular order... 1. Mr. Winkle Wakes A short story about the resistance of change in education. Mr. Winkle awakes from a long slumber to see how technology had changed the world - but not the classroom. 2. A Brave New World Wide Web One educator's journey to becoming a 21st century learner and teacher. 3. Introducing the Book A comic look at how "new technology", even basic technology, will always have a learning curve. 4. A Vision of Students Today A popular web video that gives a short summary and a unique perspective of today's students. 5. Did You Know 4.0 No EdTech video listing would be complete without one of the "Did You Know" videos. 6. The EdTech Community is Living in the 19th Century An open call to educators to take a look at the "system" that we know today. 7. The Machine is Us/ing UsWeb 2.0 In just under 5 minutes. This video shows how content is changing with advances in technology.
Six Visual Dictionaries and Thesauri
Here are six visual dictionaries and thesauri that can help your students better understand the meanings of words.
Snappy Words is a free visual dictionary and thesaurus. Enter any word or phrase into theSnappy Words search box and it will create a web of related words, phrases, and definitions. Hover your cursor over any word or phrase in the web to read its definition. Click and drag any node to explore other branches of the web. Double click on a node and it will generate new web branches.
Visuwords uses a web design to show users the definitions of words and the connections between words. To use Visuwords just type a word into the search box and Visuwords will generate a web of related words. Place your cursor over any of the words and the definition appears. Use the color-coded key to understand the connections between the words in any web.Lexipedia, likeVisuwords, provides the definitions of words along with a webbed diagram of related words and their definitions. In addition to definitions and diagrams, Lexipedia offers audio pronunciations of words although when I tested it the audio didn't seem to be working properly. In my side-by-side comparison of Lexipedia andVisuwords, both performed equally well, but occasionally offered different definitions and connections for the same word.Merriam Webster's Visual Dictionaryis divided into fifteen thematic categories containing more than 6,000 words defined and accompanied by images. You can find words and definitions by browsing through the categorized images or by using the text search bar.Wordia is a free visual, video dictionary. Wordia features a selection of user-submitted and professionally created videos explaining the meaning of a word. The videos focus on the everyday use of words while the text accompanying each video provides the dictionary definition of the word.Got Brainy features two sections; Brainy Flix and Brainy Pics. Brainy Pics is comprised of images that demonstrate the meaning of a word. Most of the pictures are submitted by students. Brainy Flix is comprised of short videos that illustrate the meaning of words. Just like with Brainy Pics, most of the videos are submitted by students.
Here are some related items that may be of interest to you:
10 Resources for ESL & Foreign Language Students
22 Frames - Captioned Videos & More for ESL
"I understand how you feel" - The PYP Attitude Empathy
While we deal with eSafety issues in many of our classes, and while we promote a responsible use of technology for all students and educate students not to use technology to bully or tease people, we do explicity teach about cyberbullying in Grade 5 in our Sharing the Planet unit of inquiry to support their central idea that "finding peaceful solutions to problems leads to a better quality of human life". We use the following movie from Digizen to prompt a discussion:Popout
and then we go on to have the students play this interactive game about decisions they could make during a school day to be responsible digital citizens.
Most of the students say they feel sympathetic for Joe, the main character in the movie and game. However what we talk to the students about is the difference between sympathy (feeling sorry for someone) and empathy (feeling with someone and understanding his or her perspective), and what they should do if they experience bullying themselves or if they are bystanders to bullying. It's important for students to know that they are not alone and that there are responsible adults who will help them deal with these situations before they get out of hand.
We are Teachers
We are Teachers is a wonderful social network for educators that I'm just now starting to find out about due to the magic of collaboration. Luckily, I came across this in reading the comments online from one of my top 10 lists that was on T & L's site.
This is a network that is filled w/ innovative ideas on a number of different subject. Also, this community is filled w/ different educators from around the world so an array of ideas can be found here. Plus, people can receive prizes & cash by submitting their ideas and lessons.
I highly recommend checking out We are Teachers by clicking here, as it is one of the better online communities to come around in a while
Looking for Lesson Materials? Try OER Commons
Earlier this week I mentioned on Twitter that I had introduced a couple of my colleagues to the Open Educational Resources Commons. They took off running with some of the things they found on theOER Commons. In fact, it was through one of them that I learned about Math Open Reference which was linked to a mathematics lesson on OER Commons.
OER Commons is a place for educators to post lessons and lesson materials that others can use. There are thousands of lessons organized by content area and grade level. After you've made your initial selections of content area and grade level you can refine your search by lesson type, material, media format, and usage rights.
Applications for Education
One of the great qualities about teachers is that, for the most part, we're very willing to share our ideas and lesson resources with each other. OER Commons is a great online example of that quality found in teachers. If you're a new teacher or you're teaching a new grade or subject this year, you're probably trying to develop a lot of new lessons this year. If you're looking for ideas and or materials for those lessons, give OER Commons a look.
Adobe's Project ROME Looks Promising
Last Monday I bookmarked an article on ZDNet about Adobe's new Project ROME for Education to read later. I now wish I hadn't waited. After trying it out for the better part of an hour, I can describeProject ROME as a combination of the best elements ofGlogster, Apple's Pages, Keynote, and touch of GIMP thrown-in for good measure.
Project ROME allows users to create multimedia documents and presentations. ROME can also be used to create quizzes and to design websites. Users can build documents that include images, videos, and animations. Animations can be imported from an existing file or created from scratch within ROME. Resizing of elements within any project in ROME is a simple matter of drag and drop resizing. Arranging elements is also a drag and drop process. Adding elements to a project in ROME is done by selecting from a large series of drop-down menus. Some parts of using ROME are quite intuitive, but as you might expect with a program that has many features, there are parts of ROME that will require you to follow a tutorial the first time you try it. Watch the video below for an overview ofProject ROME.
Popout
Right now Project ROME is free, but I don't expect it to stay free forever. ROME is available to use online and as a desktop application.
Applications for Education
As the demo template shows, Project ROME could be used to create mathematics quizzes that contain animations. You could also use ROME to create a quiz or set of discussion prompts that contain videos. ROME could be used by students to create multimedia presentations or documents.
Weekly Core Subjects Resources
With this edition I will include a fantastic site for art teachers who might be interested in having students create computer generated art.
Mathematics
ACT Math Question of the Day - This site is great for understanding the concepts and problems that students will face when taking the ACT. It is broken down by the different math curriculum based on the percentage it would appear on the ACT. Each problem is then in a Flash video with an explanation of how to get the correct answer. These make GREAT bell ringer activities. Students can complete it and then be shown how to solve it to check their answers.
Science
Sixty Symbols is a site that has videos related to various symbols in physics, science, and Astronomy. These videos would be very useful in high school science classrooms. It helps to clarify many of the confusing symbols that we see in science classrooms.
English
Interactive Folio: Romeo and Juliet. Found on Free Technology For Teachers, this is a great interactive for learning about Romeo and Juliet. The interactive does a fantastic job of helping students interpret the text from Shakespeare. You can search through the various Acts, Scenes, and Page numbers if looking for a specific resource.
Social Studies
American Journeys: Eye Witness Accounts of Early American Exploration and Settlement. Primary documents from the Vikings all the way up to the 1800's. This site is fantastic for finding resources about early America. There are several documents and images that you can search through, as well as a Teacher Resource area. This would be a great starting point for research.
Art
Sculptris is a 3D sculpting software for your computer that you can download and use to create 3D images. I highly recommend viewing the video to see it in action.
Documentary Heaven
Documentary Heaven is a site dedicated to providing documentary movies for free on the web. You can search for movies based on several different categories and topics. These videos are found at other locations and then embedded onto this site. I will warn you that several videos in certain topics might be deemed inappropriate, but that does not take away from the educational value that several hundred of the other videos can provide in your classroom. My suggestion is that you take a look at the videos for yourself and see which ones you might find useful.
Home to School Connection Guide from Edutopia
Edutopia recently released a new, free PDF guide to improving communication between schools and parents. Edutopia's Home-to-School Connections Guidefeatures ten ideas that you can implement right away to improve your communications with parents. Some of the ideas included are using Facebook to connect, using Google Voice, and building partnerships with parents. Readers of this blog may recognize Larry Ferlazzo's name in the section about building partnerships with parents. Overall, Edutopia's Home-to-School Connections Guideoffers good practical advice for improving communications between schools and parents.
Encyclomedia
Encyclomedia is a video encyclopedia that is great for searching for articles and videos on any given topic (think United Streaming). What separates this from just any other search engine is to then take those results such as video and then share it w/ others via an embed code.
Below are the results from a search on the term, technology...
I highly recommend checking out Encyclomedia by clickinghere!!!
For a much more detailed review check out Richard Byrne'sblog.
A Teacher’s Field Guide to Parents
I got a real kick out of Jason Flom's blog post, A Teacher's Field Guide to Parents, over at the Ecology of Education site. Recognize any of these parent types?
- Burger King parents. They want it their way, and right now!
- Chicken Little parents. "The sky is falling, the sky is falling."
- Flintstone parents. "Well, back when I was in this grade, the way that teacher did it was... "
- Grass-is-greener parents: "Oh my, Mrs. Johnson does it much differently than you do..."
- Barometer parents: Knows the feelings of all of the other parents in the class.
- Perfectionist parents: There's always something they can find for you to do... just a little bit better.
- Bueller parents: What parents?
Jason describes each category in funny detail, and I think you'll laugh along with him as you spot these parent types in your own life.
Check 'er out; cool read.
What do you think?
Recognize any of these types?
Care to add any others?
Weekly Core Subject Resources
Science
- From NBC Learn, the Science of the NFL. This site contains videos that help explain the science of football. This would be a great way to increase interest in science for several students in your classroom. You can also visitLessonopoly for teacher resources to go along with the videos. The final video will be posted this Friday.
Social Studies
- From National Geographic here is a great resource for theUnderground Railroad where you get to experience the journey as a slave. Another great resource is the History Lab. This site is a homepage for teachers to learn from other teachers how students are learning social studies through the use of digital tools. You can search by subject matter and by digital tool.
English
-Want to help students become faster readers and increase the words per minute that they are able to read? ZAP Reader does just that. You can copy and paste text from a website and it will display them at a speed you determine to help you improve your reading speed. See the video below for a better understanding. Another great site is Citebite. Students can copy and paste text into a text box. Then copy and paste the URL. When you click the MakeCitebite, you get a link to the page and a highlight of the text. Be a great way for students to cite information for a paper.
Popout
Mathematics
- A Maths Dictionary for Kids is a great resource for learning common math terminology that students come across. Search via Letter and then by term. It provides the definition and examples for students. Would be a great way to introduce a math vocabulary word each day.
All Subjects
- 200 Free Movies Online - These are some of the classics by some well known producers and directors. Some are also not as well known documentaries and Indies.
Weekly Core Subjects Resources
This is my third edition of links/resources related to specific core curriculum. I wasn't sure if I would be able to sustain this, but week after week I find something new that I can share with others. Hope you find one useful.
Science
I have two this week for Science. Scale of the Universe is an interesting interactive that allows you to see how big the universe is and how small we are. I highly recommend sharing with students. There is some background music, so you might want to have speakers on mute. The second resource is Encyclopedia of Earth. A great resource for geography and biology classes. You can search for articles by subject and also find resources for educators as well. If you are really motivated, you can become a contributor to the site as well.
Social Studies
The Supreme Court by PBS is an interactive website available for teachers to have a better understanding of the Supreme. On the site you can find videos, games, time-lines, and lesson plans. Another neat feature is that you can create a log-in and guess how the court will decide on this seasons cases. This would be a great site for both Civics and U.S. History.
English
Write for Ten is a website for free-writing. The idea is to get people to just write for ten minutes and then share that on the web page. The other idea is to help you work on a long document by writing on it for ten minutes at a time. You will have to create an account to participate, but even if you don't, the concept of writing for ten minutes would be a great addition to the classroom. This site might help foster some ideas.
Mathematics
The following is a site that has several Math Interactives that could be used with an Airliner or SMARTBoard. "This multimedia resource includes interactive math activities, print activities, learning strategies, and videos that illustrate how math is used in everyday life. The resource addresses the following mathematics topics: Fractions; Integers; Percentages; Rate/Ratio/Proportion; Square Roots; Exponents; Patterns; Algebra; Linear Equations; Polynomials; Angles; Circles; Surface Area and Volume; Area and Perimeter; Triangles; Pythagoras; Trigonometry; Similarity and Congruence; Transformations; Shape Classification; Data Display and Graphs; Central Tendency and Distribution; and Probability."
Open Study - Create or Join Online Study Groups
Open Study is a new collaborative study service developed and funded in part by Georgia Tech, Emory University, and the National Science Foundation. At its most basic Open Study is a message board for students in search of help answering difficult questions. Students could use it just for that purpose, but Open Study provides more than that. Open Study offers students the option to create or join online study groups, subscribe to other students' updates, and provides students with a place to record their notes online. Students can register for Open Study using their email addresses or connect to Open Study with their Facebook accounts.
Watch the video below for an introduction to Open Study.
Popout
Applications for Education
Open Study could be very helpful for students that need help beyond the times when their teachers are available to answer questions. Open Study could also be helpful for homeschool students and for students involved in independent studies.
Here are some related resources that may be of interest to you:
Ediscio - Collaboratively Create Flashcards
Flashcard Flash - Search for Flashcard Sets
Quizlet - Create and Share Flashcards
Creative Commons: What Every Educator Needs to Know
Getting an entire school on board with a digital communication platform aka classroom blog is a PROCESS. A (baby) step by (baby) step process… As the interaction between teachers, school, students, parent and global community increases, so does the need for other “little” pieces of 21st century literacies. For example
- Social and global networking
- Global awareness
- Social Bookmarking
- Copyright
As teachers and students become PRODUCERS of content on their blogs it is becoming essential that we model good behavior when it comes to Copyright issues. Rodd Lucier, aka as thecleversheep ( @thecleversheep on Twitter) has contributed a fabulous presentation to the K12 Online Conference 2010.
Creative Commons: What Every Educator Needs to Know
Here is presentation I had created in the past to give a brief overview of different copyright licenses.
The two videos mentioned in the slideshow are:
Copyright and Fair Use
Popout
Creative Commons: Wanna Work Together?
Popout
“Technology Tools to Get Teachers Started”
Technology Tools to Get Teachers Started is nice post over at Edutopia.
I’m adding it to My Best Posts For Tech Novices (Plus A Few From Other People).
7 Must-Watch EdTech Videos
With so many viral videos swirling around on the web, you've likely missed a few really great ones for education - particularly technology and education. Here are 7 must-watch EdTech videos for
any
EVERY teacher. In no particular order... 1. Mr. Winkle Wakes A short story about the resistance of change in education. Mr. Winkle awakes from a long slumber to see how technology had changed the world - but not the classroom. 2. A Brave New World Wide Web One educator's journey to becoming a 21st century learner and teacher. 3. Introducing the Book A comic look at how "new technology", even basic technology, will always have a learning curve. 4. A Vision of Students Today A popular web video that gives a short summary and a unique perspective of today's students. 5. Did You Know 4.0 No EdTech video listing would be complete without one of the "Did You Know" videos. 6. The EdTech Community is Living in the 19th Century An open call to educators to take a look at the "system" that we know today. 7. The Machine is Us/ing UsWeb 2.0 In just under 5 minutes. This video shows how content is changing with advances in technology.
Six Visual Dictionaries and Thesauri
Here are six visual dictionaries and thesauri that can help your students better understand the meanings of words.
Snappy Words is a free visual dictionary and thesaurus. Enter any word or phrase into theSnappy Words search box and it will create a web of related words, phrases, and definitions. Hover your cursor over any word or phrase in the web to read its definition. Click and drag any node to explore other branches of the web. Double click on a node and it will generate new web branches.
Visuwords uses a web design to show users the definitions of words and the connections between words. To use Visuwords just type a word into the search box and Visuwords will generate a web of related words. Place your cursor over any of the words and the definition appears. Use the color-coded key to understand the connections between the words in any web.Lexipedia, likeVisuwords, provides the definitions of words along with a webbed diagram of related words and their definitions. In addition to definitions and diagrams, Lexipedia offers audio pronunciations of words although when I tested it the audio didn't seem to be working properly. In my side-by-side comparison of Lexipedia andVisuwords, both performed equally well, but occasionally offered different definitions and connections for the same word.Merriam Webster's Visual Dictionaryis divided into fifteen thematic categories containing more than 6,000 words defined and accompanied by images. You can find words and definitions by browsing through the categorized images or by using the text search bar.Wordia is a free visual, video dictionary. Wordia features a selection of user-submitted and professionally created videos explaining the meaning of a word. The videos focus on the everyday use of words while the text accompanying each video provides the dictionary definition of the word.Got Brainy features two sections; Brainy Flix and Brainy Pics. Brainy Pics is comprised of images that demonstrate the meaning of a word. Most of the pictures are submitted by students. Brainy Flix is comprised of short videos that illustrate the meaning of words. Just like with Brainy Pics, most of the videos are submitted by students.
Here are some related items that may be of interest to you:
10 Resources for ESL & Foreign Language Students
22 Frames - Captioned Videos & More for ESL
Looking for Lesson Materials? Try OER Commons
Earlier this week I mentioned on Twitter that I had introduced a couple of my colleagues to the Open Educational Resources Commons. They took off running with some of the things they found on theOER Commons. In fact, it was through one of them that I learned about Math Open Reference which was linked to a mathematics lesson on OER Commons.
OER Commons is a place for educators to post lessons and lesson materials that others can use. There are thousands of lessons organized by content area and grade level. After you've made your initial selections of content area and grade level you can refine your search by lesson type, material, media format, and usage rights.
Applications for Education
One of the great qualities about teachers is that, for the most part, we're very willing to share our ideas and lesson resources with each other. OER Commons is a great online example of that quality found in teachers. If you're a new teacher or you're teaching a new grade or subject this year, you're probably trying to develop a lot of new lessons this year. If you're looking for ideas and or materials for those lessons, give OER Commons a look.
Adobe's Project ROME Looks Promising
Last Monday I bookmarked an article on ZDNet about Adobe's new Project ROME for Education to read later. I now wish I hadn't waited. After trying it out for the better part of an hour, I can describeProject ROME as a combination of the best elements ofGlogster, Apple's Pages, Keynote, and touch of GIMP thrown-in for good measure.
Project ROME allows users to create multimedia documents and presentations. ROME can also be used to create quizzes and to design websites. Users can build documents that include images, videos, and animations. Animations can be imported from an existing file or created from scratch within ROME. Resizing of elements within any project in ROME is a simple matter of drag and drop resizing. Arranging elements is also a drag and drop process. Adding elements to a project in ROME is done by selecting from a large series of drop-down menus. Some parts of using ROME are quite intuitive, but as you might expect with a program that has many features, there are parts of ROME that will require you to follow a tutorial the first time you try it. Watch the video below for an overview ofProject ROME.
Popout
Right now Project ROME is free, but I don't expect it to stay free forever. ROME is available to use online and as a desktop application.
Applications for Education
As the demo template shows, Project ROME could be used to create mathematics quizzes that contain animations. You could also use ROME to create a quiz or set of discussion prompts that contain videos. ROME could be used by students to create multimedia presentations or documents.
Weekly Core Subjects Resources
With this edition I will include a fantastic site for art teachers who might be interested in having students create computer generated art.
Mathematics
ACT Math Question of the Day - This site is great for understanding the concepts and problems that students will face when taking the ACT. It is broken down by the different math curriculum based on the percentage it would appear on the ACT. Each problem is then in a Flash video with an explanation of how to get the correct answer. These make GREAT bell ringer activities. Students can complete it and then be shown how to solve it to check their answers.
Science
Sixty Symbols is a site that has videos related to various symbols in physics, science, and Astronomy. These videos would be very useful in high school science classrooms. It helps to clarify many of the confusing symbols that we see in science classrooms.
English
Interactive Folio: Romeo and Juliet. Found on Free Technology For Teachers, this is a great interactive for learning about Romeo and Juliet. The interactive does a fantastic job of helping students interpret the text from Shakespeare. You can search through the various Acts, Scenes, and Page numbers if looking for a specific resource.
Social Studies
American Journeys: Eye Witness Accounts of Early American Exploration and Settlement. Primary documents from the Vikings all the way up to the 1800's. This site is fantastic for finding resources about early America. There are several documents and images that you can search through, as well as a Teacher Resource area. This would be a great starting point for research.
Art
Sculptris is a 3D sculpting software for your computer that you can download and use to create 3D images. I highly recommend viewing the video to see it in action.
Documentary Heaven
Documentary Heaven is a site dedicated to providing documentary movies for free on the web. You can search for movies based on several different categories and topics. These videos are found at other locations and then embedded onto this site. I will warn you that several videos in certain topics might be deemed inappropriate, but that does not take away from the educational value that several hundred of the other videos can provide in your classroom. My suggestion is that you take a look at the videos for yourself and see which ones you might find useful.
Home to School Connection Guide from Edutopia
Edutopia recently released a new, free PDF guide to improving communication between schools and parents. Edutopia's Home-to-School Connections Guidefeatures ten ideas that you can implement right away to improve your communications with parents. Some of the ideas included are using Facebook to connect, using Google Voice, and building partnerships with parents. Readers of this blog may recognize Larry Ferlazzo's name in the section about building partnerships with parents. Overall, Edutopia's Home-to-School Connections Guideoffers good practical advice for improving communications between schools and parents.
Encyclomedia
Encyclomedia is a video encyclopedia that is great for searching for articles and videos on any given topic (think United Streaming). What separates this from just any other search engine is to then take those results such as video and then share it w/ others via an embed code.
Below are the results from a search on the term, technology...
I highly recommend checking out Encyclomedia by clickinghere!!!
For a much more detailed review check out Richard Byrne'sblog.
A Teacher’s Field Guide to Parents
I got a real kick out of Jason Flom's blog post, A Teacher's Field Guide to Parents, over at the Ecology of Education site. Recognize any of these parent types?
- Burger King parents. They want it their way, and right now!
- Chicken Little parents. "The sky is falling, the sky is falling."
- Flintstone parents. "Well, back when I was in this grade, the way that teacher did it was... "
- Grass-is-greener parents: "Oh my, Mrs. Johnson does it much differently than you do..."
- Barometer parents: Knows the feelings of all of the other parents in the class.
- Perfectionist parents: There's always something they can find for you to do... just a little bit better.
- Bueller parents: What parents?
Jason describes each category in funny detail, and I think you'll laugh along with him as you spot these parent types in your own life.
Check 'er out; cool read.
What do you think?
Recognize any of these types?
Care to add any others?
Weekly Core Subject Resources
Science
- From NBC Learn, the Science of the NFL. This site contains videos that help explain the science of football. This would be a great way to increase interest in science for several students in your classroom. You can also visitLessonopoly for teacher resources to go along with the videos. The final video will be posted this Friday.
Social Studies
- From National Geographic here is a great resource for theUnderground Railroad where you get to experience the journey as a slave. Another great resource is the History Lab. This site is a homepage for teachers to learn from other teachers how students are learning social studies through the use of digital tools. You can search by subject matter and by digital tool.
English
-Want to help students become faster readers and increase the words per minute that they are able to read? ZAP Reader does just that. You can copy and paste text from a website and it will display them at a speed you determine to help you improve your reading speed. See the video below for a better understanding. Another great site is Citebite. Students can copy and paste text into a text box. Then copy and paste the URL. When you click the MakeCitebite, you get a link to the page and a highlight of the text. Be a great way for students to cite information for a paper.
Popout
Mathematics
- A Maths Dictionary for Kids is a great resource for learning common math terminology that students come across. Search via Letter and then by term. It provides the definition and examples for students. Would be a great way to introduce a math vocabulary word each day.
All Subjects
- 200 Free Movies Online - These are some of the classics by some well known producers and directors. Some are also not as well known documentaries and Indies.
Weekly Core Subjects Resources
This is my third edition of links/resources related to specific core curriculum. I wasn't sure if I would be able to sustain this, but week after week I find something new that I can share with others. Hope you find one useful.
Science
I have two this week for Science. Scale of the Universe is an interesting interactive that allows you to see how big the universe is and how small we are. I highly recommend sharing with students. There is some background music, so you might want to have speakers on mute. The second resource is Encyclopedia of Earth. A great resource for geography and biology classes. You can search for articles by subject and also find resources for educators as well. If you are really motivated, you can become a contributor to the site as well.
Social Studies
The Supreme Court by PBS is an interactive website available for teachers to have a better understanding of the Supreme. On the site you can find videos, games, time-lines, and lesson plans. Another neat feature is that you can create a log-in and guess how the court will decide on this seasons cases. This would be a great site for both Civics and U.S. History.
English
Write for Ten is a website for free-writing. The idea is to get people to just write for ten minutes and then share that on the web page. The other idea is to help you work on a long document by writing on it for ten minutes at a time. You will have to create an account to participate, but even if you don't, the concept of writing for ten minutes would be a great addition to the classroom. This site might help foster some ideas.
Mathematics
The following is a site that has several Math Interactives that could be used with an Airliner or SMARTBoard. "This multimedia resource includes interactive math activities, print activities, learning strategies, and videos that illustrate how math is used in everyday life. The resource addresses the following mathematics topics: Fractions; Integers; Percentages; Rate/Ratio/Proportion; Square Roots; Exponents; Patterns; Algebra; Linear Equations; Polynomials; Angles; Circles; Surface Area and Volume; Area and Perimeter; Triangles; Pythagoras; Trigonometry; Similarity and Congruence; Transformations; Shape Classification; Data Display and Graphs; Central Tendency and Distribution; and Probability."
Open Study - Create or Join Online Study Groups
Open Study is a new collaborative study service developed and funded in part by Georgia Tech, Emory University, and the National Science Foundation. At its most basic Open Study is a message board for students in search of help answering difficult questions. Students could use it just for that purpose, but Open Study provides more than that. Open Study offers students the option to create or join online study groups, subscribe to other students' updates, and provides students with a place to record their notes online. Students can register for Open Study using their email addresses or connect to Open Study with their Facebook accounts.
Watch the video below for an introduction to Open Study.
Popout
Applications for Education
Open Study could be very helpful for students that need help beyond the times when their teachers are available to answer questions. Open Study could also be helpful for homeschool students and for students involved in independent studies.
Here are some related resources that may be of interest to you:
Ediscio - Collaboratively Create Flashcards
Flashcard Flash - Search for Flashcard Sets
Quizlet - Create and Share Flashcards
Creative Commons: What Every Educator Needs to Know
Getting an entire school on board with a digital communication platform aka classroom blog is a PROCESS. A (baby) step by (baby) step process… As the interaction between teachers, school, students, parent and global community increases, so does the need for other “little” pieces of 21st century literacies. For example
- Social and global networking
- Global awareness
- Social Bookmarking
- Copyright
As teachers and students become PRODUCERS of content on their blogs it is becoming essential that we model good behavior when it comes to Copyright issues. Rodd Lucier, aka as thecleversheep ( @thecleversheep on Twitter) has contributed a fabulous presentation to the K12 Online Conference 2010.
Creative Commons: What Every Educator Needs to Know
Here is presentation I had created in the past to give a brief overview of different copyright licenses.
The two videos mentioned in the slideshow are:
Copyright and Fair Use
Popout
Creative Commons: Wanna Work Together?
Popout
“Technology Tools to Get Teachers Started”
Technology Tools to Get Teachers Started is nice post over at Edutopia.
I’m adding it to My Best Posts For Tech Novices (Plus A Few From Other People).
Looking for Lesson Materials? Try OER Commons
Earlier this week I mentioned on Twitter that I had introduced a couple of my colleagues to the Open Educational Resources Commons. They took off running with some of the things they found on theOER Commons. In fact, it was through one of them that I learned about Math Open Reference which was linked to a mathematics lesson on OER Commons.
OER Commons is a place for educators to post lessons and lesson materials that others can use. There are thousands of lessons organized by content area and grade level. After you've made your initial selections of content area and grade level you can refine your search by lesson type, material, media format, and usage rights.
Applications for Education
One of the great qualities about teachers is that, for the most part, we're very willing to share our ideas and lesson resources with each other. OER Commons is a great online example of that quality found in teachers. If you're a new teacher or you're teaching a new grade or subject this year, you're probably trying to develop a lot of new lessons this year. If you're looking for ideas and or materials for those lessons, give OER Commons a look.
Adobe's Project ROME Looks Promising
Last Monday I bookmarked an article on ZDNet about Adobe's new Project ROME for Education to read later. I now wish I hadn't waited. After trying it out for the better part of an hour, I can describeProject ROME as a combination of the best elements ofGlogster, Apple's Pages, Keynote, and touch of GIMP thrown-in for good measure.
Project ROME allows users to create multimedia documents and presentations. ROME can also be used to create quizzes and to design websites. Users can build documents that include images, videos, and animations. Animations can be imported from an existing file or created from scratch within ROME. Resizing of elements within any project in ROME is a simple matter of drag and drop resizing. Arranging elements is also a drag and drop process. Adding elements to a project in ROME is done by selecting from a large series of drop-down menus. Some parts of using ROME are quite intuitive, but as you might expect with a program that has many features, there are parts of ROME that will require you to follow a tutorial the first time you try it. Watch the video below for an overview ofProject ROME.
Popout
Right now Project ROME is free, but I don't expect it to stay free forever. ROME is available to use online and as a desktop application.
Applications for Education
As the demo template shows, Project ROME could be used to create mathematics quizzes that contain animations. You could also use ROME to create a quiz or set of discussion prompts that contain videos. ROME could be used by students to create multimedia presentations or documents.
Weekly Core Subjects Resources
With this edition I will include a fantastic site for art teachers who might be interested in having students create computer generated art.
Mathematics
ACT Math Question of the Day - This site is great for understanding the concepts and problems that students will face when taking the ACT. It is broken down by the different math curriculum based on the percentage it would appear on the ACT. Each problem is then in a Flash video with an explanation of how to get the correct answer. These make GREAT bell ringer activities. Students can complete it and then be shown how to solve it to check their answers.
Science
Sixty Symbols is a site that has videos related to various symbols in physics, science, and Astronomy. These videos would be very useful in high school science classrooms. It helps to clarify many of the confusing symbols that we see in science classrooms.
English
Interactive Folio: Romeo and Juliet. Found on Free Technology For Teachers, this is a great interactive for learning about Romeo and Juliet. The interactive does a fantastic job of helping students interpret the text from Shakespeare. You can search through the various Acts, Scenes, and Page numbers if looking for a specific resource.
Social Studies
American Journeys: Eye Witness Accounts of Early American Exploration and Settlement. Primary documents from the Vikings all the way up to the 1800's. This site is fantastic for finding resources about early America. There are several documents and images that you can search through, as well as a Teacher Resource area. This would be a great starting point for research.
Art
Sculptris is a 3D sculpting software for your computer that you can download and use to create 3D images. I highly recommend viewing the video to see it in action.
Documentary Heaven
Documentary Heaven is a site dedicated to providing documentary movies for free on the web. You can search for movies based on several different categories and topics. These videos are found at other locations and then embedded onto this site. I will warn you that several videos in certain topics might be deemed inappropriate, but that does not take away from the educational value that several hundred of the other videos can provide in your classroom. My suggestion is that you take a look at the videos for yourself and see which ones you might find useful.
Home to School Connection Guide from Edutopia
Edutopia recently released a new, free PDF guide to improving communication between schools and parents. Edutopia's Home-to-School Connections Guidefeatures ten ideas that you can implement right away to improve your communications with parents. Some of the ideas included are using Facebook to connect, using Google Voice, and building partnerships with parents. Readers of this blog may recognize Larry Ferlazzo's name in the section about building partnerships with parents. Overall, Edutopia's Home-to-School Connections Guideoffers good practical advice for improving communications between schools and parents.
Encyclomedia
Encyclomedia is a video encyclopedia that is great for searching for articles and videos on any given topic (think United Streaming). What separates this from just any other search engine is to then take those results such as video and then share it w/ others via an embed code.
Below are the results from a search on the term, technology...
I highly recommend checking out Encyclomedia by clickinghere!!!
For a much more detailed review check out Richard Byrne'sblog.
A Teacher’s Field Guide to Parents
I got a real kick out of Jason Flom's blog post, A Teacher's Field Guide to Parents, over at the Ecology of Education site. Recognize any of these parent types?
- Burger King parents. They want it their way, and right now!
- Chicken Little parents. "The sky is falling, the sky is falling."
- Flintstone parents. "Well, back when I was in this grade, the way that teacher did it was... "
- Grass-is-greener parents: "Oh my, Mrs. Johnson does it much differently than you do..."
- Barometer parents: Knows the feelings of all of the other parents in the class.
- Perfectionist parents: There's always something they can find for you to do... just a little bit better.
- Bueller parents: What parents?
Jason describes each category in funny detail, and I think you'll laugh along with him as you spot these parent types in your own life.
Check 'er out; cool read.
What do you think?
Recognize any of these types?
Care to add any others?
Weekly Core Subject Resources
Science
- From NBC Learn, the Science of the NFL. This site contains videos that help explain the science of football. This would be a great way to increase interest in science for several students in your classroom. You can also visitLessonopoly for teacher resources to go along with the videos. The final video will be posted this Friday.
Social Studies
- From National Geographic here is a great resource for theUnderground Railroad where you get to experience the journey as a slave. Another great resource is the History Lab. This site is a homepage for teachers to learn from other teachers how students are learning social studies through the use of digital tools. You can search by subject matter and by digital tool.
English
-Want to help students become faster readers and increase the words per minute that they are able to read? ZAP Reader does just that. You can copy and paste text from a website and it will display them at a speed you determine to help you improve your reading speed. See the video below for a better understanding. Another great site is Citebite. Students can copy and paste text into a text box. Then copy and paste the URL. When you click the MakeCitebite, you get a link to the page and a highlight of the text. Be a great way for students to cite information for a paper.
Popout
Mathematics
- A Maths Dictionary for Kids is a great resource for learning common math terminology that students come across. Search via Letter and then by term. It provides the definition and examples for students. Would be a great way to introduce a math vocabulary word each day.
All Subjects
- 200 Free Movies Online - These are some of the classics by some well known producers and directors. Some are also not as well known documentaries and Indies.
Weekly Core Subjects Resources
This is my third edition of links/resources related to specific core curriculum. I wasn't sure if I would be able to sustain this, but week after week I find something new that I can share with others. Hope you find one useful.
Science
I have two this week for Science. Scale of the Universe is an interesting interactive that allows you to see how big the universe is and how small we are. I highly recommend sharing with students. There is some background music, so you might want to have speakers on mute. The second resource is Encyclopedia of Earth. A great resource for geography and biology classes. You can search for articles by subject and also find resources for educators as well. If you are really motivated, you can become a contributor to the site as well.
Social Studies
The Supreme Court by PBS is an interactive website available for teachers to have a better understanding of the Supreme. On the site you can find videos, games, time-lines, and lesson plans. Another neat feature is that you can create a log-in and guess how the court will decide on this seasons cases. This would be a great site for both Civics and U.S. History.
English
Write for Ten is a website for free-writing. The idea is to get people to just write for ten minutes and then share that on the web page. The other idea is to help you work on a long document by writing on it for ten minutes at a time. You will have to create an account to participate, but even if you don't, the concept of writing for ten minutes would be a great addition to the classroom. This site might help foster some ideas.
Mathematics
The following is a site that has several Math Interactives that could be used with an Airliner or SMARTBoard. "This multimedia resource includes interactive math activities, print activities, learning strategies, and videos that illustrate how math is used in everyday life. The resource addresses the following mathematics topics: Fractions; Integers; Percentages; Rate/Ratio/Proportion; Square Roots; Exponents; Patterns; Algebra; Linear Equations; Polynomials; Angles; Circles; Surface Area and Volume; Area and Perimeter; Triangles; Pythagoras; Trigonometry; Similarity and Congruence; Transformations; Shape Classification; Data Display and Graphs; Central Tendency and Distribution; and Probability."
Open Study - Create or Join Online Study Groups
Open Study is a new collaborative study service developed and funded in part by Georgia Tech, Emory University, and the National Science Foundation. At its most basic Open Study is a message board for students in search of help answering difficult questions. Students could use it just for that purpose, but Open Study provides more than that. Open Study offers students the option to create or join online study groups, subscribe to other students' updates, and provides students with a place to record their notes online. Students can register for Open Study using their email addresses or connect to Open Study with their Facebook accounts.
Watch the video below for an introduction to Open Study.
Popout
Applications for Education
Open Study could be very helpful for students that need help beyond the times when their teachers are available to answer questions. Open Study could also be helpful for homeschool students and for students involved in independent studies.
Here are some related resources that may be of interest to you:
Ediscio - Collaboratively Create Flashcards
Flashcard Flash - Search for Flashcard Sets
Quizlet - Create and Share Flashcards
Looking for Lesson Materials? Try OER Commons
Earlier this week I mentioned on Twitter that I had introduced a couple of my colleagues to the Open Educational Resources Commons. They took off running with some of the things they found on theOER Commons. In fact, it was through one of them that I learned about Math Open Reference which was linked to a mathematics lesson on OER Commons.
OER Commons is a place for educators to post lessons and lesson materials that others can use. There are thousands of lessons organized by content area and grade level. After you've made your initial selections of content area and grade level you can refine your search by lesson type, material, media format, and usage rights.
Applications for Education
One of the great qualities about teachers is that, for the most part, we're very willing to share our ideas and lesson resources with each other. OER Commons is a great online example of that quality found in teachers. If you're a new teacher or you're teaching a new grade or subject this year, you're probably trying to develop a lot of new lessons this year. If you're looking for ideas and or materials for those lessons, give OER Commons a look.
Adobe's Project ROME Looks Promising
Last Monday I bookmarked an article on ZDNet about Adobe's new Project ROME for Education to read later. I now wish I hadn't waited. After trying it out for the better part of an hour, I can describeProject ROME as a combination of the best elements ofGlogster, Apple's Pages, Keynote, and touch of GIMP thrown-in for good measure.
Project ROME allows users to create multimedia documents and presentations. ROME can also be used to create quizzes and to design websites. Users can build documents that include images, videos, and animations. Animations can be imported from an existing file or created from scratch within ROME. Resizing of elements within any project in ROME is a simple matter of drag and drop resizing. Arranging elements is also a drag and drop process. Adding elements to a project in ROME is done by selecting from a large series of drop-down menus. Some parts of using ROME are quite intuitive, but as you might expect with a program that has many features, there are parts of ROME that will require you to follow a tutorial the first time you try it. Watch the video below for an overview ofProject ROME.
Popout
Right now Project ROME is free, but I don't expect it to stay free forever. ROME is available to use online and as a desktop application.
Applications for Education
As the demo template shows, Project ROME could be used to create mathematics quizzes that contain animations. You could also use ROME to create a quiz or set of discussion prompts that contain videos. ROME could be used by students to create multimedia presentations or documents.
Weekly Core Subjects Resources
With this edition I will include a fantastic site for art teachers who might be interested in having students create computer generated art.
Mathematics
ACT Math Question of the Day - This site is great for understanding the concepts and problems that students will face when taking the ACT. It is broken down by the different math curriculum based on the percentage it would appear on the ACT. Each problem is then in a Flash video with an explanation of how to get the correct answer. These make GREAT bell ringer activities. Students can complete it and then be shown how to solve it to check their answers.
Science
Sixty Symbols is a site that has videos related to various symbols in physics, science, and Astronomy. These videos would be very useful in high school science classrooms. It helps to clarify many of the confusing symbols that we see in science classrooms.
English
Interactive Folio: Romeo and Juliet. Found on Free Technology For Teachers, this is a great interactive for learning about Romeo and Juliet. The interactive does a fantastic job of helping students interpret the text from Shakespeare. You can search through the various Acts, Scenes, and Page numbers if looking for a specific resource.
Social Studies
American Journeys: Eye Witness Accounts of Early American Exploration and Settlement. Primary documents from the Vikings all the way up to the 1800's. This site is fantastic for finding resources about early America. There are several documents and images that you can search through, as well as a Teacher Resource area. This would be a great starting point for research.
Art
Sculptris is a 3D sculpting software for your computer that you can download and use to create 3D images. I highly recommend viewing the video to see it in action.
Documentary Heaven
Documentary Heaven is a site dedicated to providing documentary movies for free on the web. You can search for movies based on several different categories and topics. These videos are found at other locations and then embedded onto this site. I will warn you that several videos in certain topics might be deemed inappropriate, but that does not take away from the educational value that several hundred of the other videos can provide in your classroom. My suggestion is that you take a look at the videos for yourself and see which ones you might find useful.
Home to School Connection Guide from Edutopia
Edutopia recently released a new, free PDF guide to improving communication between schools and parents. Edutopia's Home-to-School Connections Guidefeatures ten ideas that you can implement right away to improve your communications with parents. Some of the ideas included are using Facebook to connect, using Google Voice, and building partnerships with parents. Readers of this blog may recognize Larry Ferlazzo's name in the section about building partnerships with parents. Overall, Edutopia's Home-to-School Connections Guideoffers good practical advice for improving communications between schools and parents.
Encyclomedia
Encyclomedia is a video encyclopedia that is great for searching for articles and videos on any given topic (think United Streaming). What separates this from just any other search engine is to then take those results such as video and then share it w/ others via an embed code.
Below are the results from a search on the term, technology...
I highly recommend checking out Encyclomedia by clickinghere!!!
For a much more detailed review check out Richard Byrne'sblog.
A Teacher’s Field Guide to Parents
I got a real kick out of Jason Flom's blog post, A Teacher's Field Guide to Parents, over at the Ecology of Education site. Recognize any of these parent types?
- Burger King parents. They want it their way, and right now!
- Chicken Little parents. "The sky is falling, the sky is falling."
- Flintstone parents. "Well, back when I was in this grade, the way that teacher did it was... "
- Grass-is-greener parents: "Oh my, Mrs. Johnson does it much differently than you do..."
- Barometer parents: Knows the feelings of all of the other parents in the class.
- Perfectionist parents: There's always something they can find for you to do... just a little bit better.
- Bueller parents: What parents?
Jason describes each category in funny detail, and I think you'll laugh along with him as you spot these parent types in your own life.
Check 'er out; cool read.
What do you think?
Recognize any of these types?
Care to add any others?
Weekly Core Subject Resources
Science
- From NBC Learn, the Science of the NFL. This site contains videos that help explain the science of football. This would be a great way to increase interest in science for several students in your classroom. You can also visitLessonopoly for teacher resources to go along with the videos. The final video will be posted this Friday.
Social Studies
- From National Geographic here is a great resource for theUnderground Railroad where you get to experience the journey as a slave. Another great resource is the History Lab. This site is a homepage for teachers to learn from other teachers how students are learning social studies through the use of digital tools. You can search by subject matter and by digital tool.
English
-Want to help students become faster readers and increase the words per minute that they are able to read? ZAP Reader does just that. You can copy and paste text from a website and it will display them at a speed you determine to help you improve your reading speed. See the video below for a better understanding. Another great site is Citebite. Students can copy and paste text into a text box. Then copy and paste the URL. When you click the MakeCitebite, you get a link to the page and a highlight of the text. Be a great way for students to cite information for a paper.
Popout
Mathematics
- A Maths Dictionary for Kids is a great resource for learning common math terminology that students come across. Search via Letter and then by term. It provides the definition and examples for students. Would be a great way to introduce a math vocabulary word each day.
All Subjects
- 200 Free Movies Online - These are some of the classics by some well known producers and directors. Some are also not as well known documentaries and Indies.
Looking for Lesson Materials? Try OER Commons
Earlier this week I mentioned on Twitter that I had introduced a couple of my colleagues to the Open Educational Resources Commons. They took off running with some of the things they found on theOER Commons. In fact, it was through one of them that I learned about Math Open Reference which was linked to a mathematics lesson on OER Commons.
OER Commons is a place for educators to post lessons and lesson materials that others can use. There are thousands of lessons organized by content area and grade level. After you've made your initial selections of content area and grade level you can refine your search by lesson type, material, media format, and usage rights.
Applications for Education
One of the great qualities about teachers is that, for the most part, we're very willing to share our ideas and lesson resources with each other. OER Commons is a great online example of that quality found in teachers. If you're a new teacher or you're teaching a new grade or subject this year, you're probably trying to develop a lot of new lessons this year. If you're looking for ideas and or materials for those lessons, give OER Commons a look.
Adobe's Project ROME Looks Promising
Last Monday I bookmarked an article on ZDNet about Adobe's new Project ROME for Education to read later. I now wish I hadn't waited. After trying it out for the better part of an hour, I can describeProject ROME as a combination of the best elements ofGlogster, Apple's Pages, Keynote, and touch of GIMP thrown-in for good measure.
Project ROME allows users to create multimedia documents and presentations. ROME can also be used to create quizzes and to design websites. Users can build documents that include images, videos, and animations. Animations can be imported from an existing file or created from scratch within ROME. Resizing of elements within any project in ROME is a simple matter of drag and drop resizing. Arranging elements is also a drag and drop process. Adding elements to a project in ROME is done by selecting from a large series of drop-down menus. Some parts of using ROME are quite intuitive, but as you might expect with a program that has many features, there are parts of ROME that will require you to follow a tutorial the first time you try it. Watch the video below for an overview ofProject ROME.
Popout
Right now Project ROME is free, but I don't expect it to stay free forever. ROME is available to use online and as a desktop application.
Applications for Education
As the demo template shows, Project ROME could be used to create mathematics quizzes that contain animations. You could also use ROME to create a quiz or set of discussion prompts that contain videos. ROME could be used by students to create multimedia presentations or documents.
Weekly Core Subjects Resources
With this edition I will include a fantastic site for art teachers who might be interested in having students create computer generated art.
Mathematics
ACT Math Question of the Day - This site is great for understanding the concepts and problems that students will face when taking the ACT. It is broken down by the different math curriculum based on the percentage it would appear on the ACT. Each problem is then in a Flash video with an explanation of how to get the correct answer. These make GREAT bell ringer activities. Students can complete it and then be shown how to solve it to check their answers.
Science
Sixty Symbols is a site that has videos related to various symbols in physics, science, and Astronomy. These videos would be very useful in high school science classrooms. It helps to clarify many of the confusing symbols that we see in science classrooms.
English
Interactive Folio: Romeo and Juliet. Found on Free Technology For Teachers, this is a great interactive for learning about Romeo and Juliet. The interactive does a fantastic job of helping students interpret the text from Shakespeare. You can search through the various Acts, Scenes, and Page numbers if looking for a specific resource.
Social Studies
American Journeys: Eye Witness Accounts of Early American Exploration and Settlement. Primary documents from the Vikings all the way up to the 1800's. This site is fantastic for finding resources about early America. There are several documents and images that you can search through, as well as a Teacher Resource area. This would be a great starting point for research.
Art
Sculptris is a 3D sculpting software for your computer that you can download and use to create 3D images. I highly recommend viewing the video to see it in action.
Documentary Heaven
Documentary Heaven is a site dedicated to providing documentary movies for free on the web. You can search for movies based on several different categories and topics. These videos are found at other locations and then embedded onto this site. I will warn you that several videos in certain topics might be deemed inappropriate, but that does not take away from the educational value that several hundred of the other videos can provide in your classroom. My suggestion is that you take a look at the videos for yourself and see which ones you might find useful.
Home to School Connection Guide from Edutopia
Edutopia recently released a new, free PDF guide to improving communication between schools and parents. Edutopia's Home-to-School Connections Guidefeatures ten ideas that you can implement right away to improve your communications with parents. Some of the ideas included are using Facebook to connect, using Google Voice, and building partnerships with parents. Readers of this blog may recognize Larry Ferlazzo's name in the section about building partnerships with parents. Overall, Edutopia's Home-to-School Connections Guideoffers good practical advice for improving communications between schools and parents.
Encyclomedia
Encyclomedia is a video encyclopedia that is great for searching for articles and videos on any given topic (think United Streaming). What separates this from just any other search engine is to then take those results such as video and then share it w/ others via an embed code.
Below are the results from a search on the term, technology...
I highly recommend checking out Encyclomedia by clickinghere!!!
For a much more detailed review check out Richard Byrne'sblog.
Looking for Lesson Materials? Try OER Commons
Earlier this week I mentioned on Twitter that I had introduced a couple of my colleagues to the Open Educational Resources Commons. They took off running with some of the things they found on theOER Commons. In fact, it was through one of them that I learned about Math Open Reference which was linked to a mathematics lesson on OER Commons.
OER Commons is a place for educators to post lessons and lesson materials that others can use. There are thousands of lessons organized by content area and grade level. After you've made your initial selections of content area and grade level you can refine your search by lesson type, material, media format, and usage rights.
Applications for Education
One of the great qualities about teachers is that, for the most part, we're very willing to share our ideas and lesson resources with each other. OER Commons is a great online example of that quality found in teachers. If you're a new teacher or you're teaching a new grade or subject this year, you're probably trying to develop a lot of new lessons this year. If you're looking for ideas and or materials for those lessons, give OER Commons a look.
Adobe's Project ROME Looks Promising
Last Monday I bookmarked an article on ZDNet about Adobe's new Project ROME for Education to read later. I now wish I hadn't waited. After trying it out for the better part of an hour, I can describeProject ROME as a combination of the best elements ofGlogster, Apple's Pages, Keynote, and touch of GIMP thrown-in for good measure.
Project ROME allows users to create multimedia documents and presentations. ROME can also be used to create quizzes and to design websites. Users can build documents that include images, videos, and animations. Animations can be imported from an existing file or created from scratch within ROME. Resizing of elements within any project in ROME is a simple matter of drag and drop resizing. Arranging elements is also a drag and drop process. Adding elements to a project in ROME is done by selecting from a large series of drop-down menus. Some parts of using ROME are quite intuitive, but as you might expect with a program that has many features, there are parts of ROME that will require you to follow a tutorial the first time you try it. Watch the video below for an overview ofProject ROME.
Popout
Right now Project ROME is free, but I don't expect it to stay free forever. ROME is available to use online and as a desktop application.
Applications for Education
As the demo template shows, Project ROME could be used to create mathematics quizzes that contain animations. You could also use ROME to create a quiz or set of discussion prompts that contain videos. ROME could be used by students to create multimedia presentations or documents.
Weekly Core Subjects Resources
With this edition I will include a fantastic site for art teachers who might be interested in having students create computer generated art.
Mathematics
ACT Math Question of the Day - This site is great for understanding the concepts and problems that students will face when taking the ACT. It is broken down by the different math curriculum based on the percentage it would appear on the ACT. Each problem is then in a Flash video with an explanation of how to get the correct answer. These make GREAT bell ringer activities. Students can complete it and then be shown how to solve it to check their answers.
Science
Sixty Symbols is a site that has videos related to various symbols in physics, science, and Astronomy. These videos would be very useful in high school science classrooms. It helps to clarify many of the confusing symbols that we see in science classrooms.
English
Interactive Folio: Romeo and Juliet. Found on Free Technology For Teachers, this is a great interactive for learning about Romeo and Juliet. The interactive does a fantastic job of helping students interpret the text from Shakespeare. You can search through the various Acts, Scenes, and Page numbers if looking for a specific resource.
Social Studies
American Journeys: Eye Witness Accounts of Early American Exploration and Settlement. Primary documents from the Vikings all the way up to the 1800's. This site is fantastic for finding resources about early America. There are several documents and images that you can search through, as well as a Teacher Resource area. This would be a great starting point for research.
Art
Sculptris is a 3D sculpting software for your computer that you can download and use to create 3D images. I highly recommend viewing the video to see it in action.
Documentary Heaven
Documentary Heaven is a site dedicated to providing documentary movies for free on the web. You can search for movies based on several different categories and topics. These videos are found at other locations and then embedded onto this site. I will warn you that several videos in certain topics might be deemed inappropriate, but that does not take away from the educational value that several hundred of the other videos can provide in your classroom. My suggestion is that you take a look at the videos for yourself and see which ones you might find useful.
Looking for Lesson Materials? Try OER Commons
Earlier this week I mentioned on Twitter that I had introduced a couple of my colleagues to the Open Educational Resources Commons. They took off running with some of the things they found on theOER Commons. In fact, it was through one of them that I learned about Math Open Reference which was linked to a mathematics lesson on OER Commons.
OER Commons is a place for educators to post lessons and lesson materials that others can use. There are thousands of lessons organized by content area and grade level. After you've made your initial selections of content area and grade level you can refine your search by lesson type, material, media format, and usage rights.
Applications for Education
One of the great qualities about teachers is that, for the most part, we're very willing to share our ideas and lesson resources with each other. OER Commons is a great online example of that quality found in teachers. If you're a new teacher or you're teaching a new grade or subject this year, you're probably trying to develop a lot of new lessons this year. If you're looking for ideas and or materials for those lessons, give OER Commons a look.
Adobe's Project ROME Looks Promising
Last Monday I bookmarked an article on ZDNet about Adobe's new Project ROME for Education to read later. I now wish I hadn't waited. After trying it out for the better part of an hour, I can describeProject ROME as a combination of the best elements ofGlogster, Apple's Pages, Keynote, and touch of GIMP thrown-in for good measure.
Project ROME allows users to create multimedia documents and presentations. ROME can also be used to create quizzes and to design websites. Users can build documents that include images, videos, and animations. Animations can be imported from an existing file or created from scratch within ROME. Resizing of elements within any project in ROME is a simple matter of drag and drop resizing. Arranging elements is also a drag and drop process. Adding elements to a project in ROME is done by selecting from a large series of drop-down menus. Some parts of using ROME are quite intuitive, but as you might expect with a program that has many features, there are parts of ROME that will require you to follow a tutorial the first time you try it. Watch the video below for an overview ofProject ROME.
Popout
Right now Project ROME is free, but I don't expect it to stay free forever. ROME is available to use online and as a desktop application.
Applications for Education
As the demo template shows, Project ROME could be used to create mathematics quizzes that contain animations. You could also use ROME to create a quiz or set of discussion prompts that contain videos. ROME could be used by students to create multimedia presentations or documents.
Looking for Lesson Materials? Try OER Commons
OER Commons is a place for educators to post lessons and lesson materials that others can use. There are thousands of lessons organized by content area and grade level. After you've made your initial selections of content area and grade level you can refine your search by lesson type, material, media format, and usage rights.
Applications for Education
One of the great qualities about teachers is that, for the most part, we're very willing to share our ideas and lesson resources with each other. OER Commons is a great online example of that quality found in teachers. If you're a new teacher or you're teaching a new grade or subject this year, you're probably trying to develop a lot of new lessons this year. If you're looking for ideas and or materials for those lessons, give OER Commons a look.
Project ROME allows users to create multimedia documents and presentations. ROME can also be used to create quizzes and to design websites. Users can build documents that include images, videos, and animations. Animations can be imported from an existing file or created from scratch within ROME. Resizing of elements within any project in ROME is a simple matter of drag and drop resizing. Arranging elements is also a drag and drop process. Adding elements to a project in ROME is done by selecting from a large series of drop-down menus. Some parts of using ROME are quite intuitive, but as you might expect with a program that has many features, there are parts of ROME that will require you to follow a tutorial the first time you try it. Watch the video below for an overview ofProject ROME.
Popout
Right now Project ROME is free, but I don't expect it to stay free forever. ROME is available to use online and as a desktop application.
Applications for Education
As the demo template shows, Project ROME could be used to create mathematics quizzes that contain animations. You could also use ROME to create a quiz or set of discussion prompts that contain videos. ROME could be used by students to create multimedia presentations or documents.
Weekly Core Subjects Resources
With this edition I will include a fantastic site for art teachers who might be interested in having students create computer generated art.
Mathematics
ACT Math Question of the Day - This site is great for understanding the concepts and problems that students will face when taking the ACT. It is broken down by the different math curriculum based on the percentage it would appear on the ACT. Each problem is then in a Flash video with an explanation of how to get the correct answer. These make GREAT bell ringer activities. Students can complete it and then be shown how to solve it to check their answers.
Science
Sixty Symbols is a site that has videos related to various symbols in physics, science, and Astronomy. These videos would be very useful in high school science classrooms. It helps to clarify many of the confusing symbols that we see in science classrooms.
English
Interactive Folio: Romeo and Juliet. Found on Free Technology For Teachers, this is a great interactive for learning about Romeo and Juliet. The interactive does a fantastic job of helping students interpret the text from Shakespeare. You can search through the various Acts, Scenes, and Page numbers if looking for a specific resource.
Social Studies
American Journeys: Eye Witness Accounts of Early American Exploration and Settlement. Primary documents from the Vikings all the way up to the 1800's. This site is fantastic for finding resources about early America. There are several documents and images that you can search through, as well as a Teacher Resource area. This would be a great starting point for research.
Art
Sculptris is a 3D sculpting software for your computer that you can download and use to create 3D images. I highly recommend viewing the video to see it in action.
Mathematics
ACT Math Question of the Day - This site is great for understanding the concepts and problems that students will face when taking the ACT. It is broken down by the different math curriculum based on the percentage it would appear on the ACT. Each problem is then in a Flash video with an explanation of how to get the correct answer. These make GREAT bell ringer activities. Students can complete it and then be shown how to solve it to check their answers.
Science
Sixty Symbols is a site that has videos related to various symbols in physics, science, and Astronomy. These videos would be very useful in high school science classrooms. It helps to clarify many of the confusing symbols that we see in science classrooms.
English
Interactive Folio: Romeo and Juliet. Found on Free Technology For Teachers, this is a great interactive for learning about Romeo and Juliet. The interactive does a fantastic job of helping students interpret the text from Shakespeare. You can search through the various Acts, Scenes, and Page numbers if looking for a specific resource.
Social Studies
American Journeys: Eye Witness Accounts of Early American Exploration and Settlement. Primary documents from the Vikings all the way up to the 1800's. This site is fantastic for finding resources about early America. There are several documents and images that you can search through, as well as a Teacher Resource area. This would be a great starting point for research.
Art
Sculptris is a 3D sculpting software for your computer that you can download and use to create 3D images. I highly recommend viewing the video to see it in action.
Documentary Heaven is a site dedicated to providing documentary movies for free on the web. You can search for movies based on several different categories and topics. These videos are found at other locations and then embedded onto this site. I will warn you that several videos in certain topics might be deemed inappropriate, but that does not take away from the educational value that several hundred of the other videos can provide in your classroom. My suggestion is that you take a look at the videos for yourself and see which ones you might find useful.
Home to School Connection Guide from Edutopia
Encyclomedia is a video encyclopedia that is great for searching for articles and videos on any given topic (think United Streaming). What separates this from just any other search engine is to then take those results such as video and then share it w/ others via an embed code.
Below are the results from a search on the term, technology...
I highly recommend checking out Encyclomedia by clickinghere!!!
For a much more detailed review check out Richard Byrne'sblog.
Below are the results from a search on the term, technology...
I highly recommend checking out Encyclomedia by clickinghere!!!
For a much more detailed review check out Richard Byrne'sblog.
A Teacher’s Field Guide to Parents
- Burger King parents. They want it their way, and right now!
- Chicken Little parents. "The sky is falling, the sky is falling."
- Flintstone parents. "Well, back when I was in this grade, the way that teacher did it was... "
- Grass-is-greener parents: "Oh my, Mrs. Johnson does it much differently than you do..."
- Barometer parents: Knows the feelings of all of the other parents in the class.
- Perfectionist parents: There's always something they can find for you to do... just a little bit better.
- Bueller parents: What parents?
Check 'er out; cool read.
What do you think?
Recognize any of these types?
Care to add any others?
Science
- From NBC Learn, the Science of the NFL. This site contains videos that help explain the science of football. This would be a great way to increase interest in science for several students in your classroom. You can also visitLessonopoly for teacher resources to go along with the videos. The final video will be posted this Friday.
Social Studies
- From National Geographic here is a great resource for theUnderground Railroad where you get to experience the journey as a slave. Another great resource is the History Lab. This site is a homepage for teachers to learn from other teachers how students are learning social studies through the use of digital tools. You can search by subject matter and by digital tool.
English
-Want to help students become faster readers and increase the words per minute that they are able to read? ZAP Reader does just that. You can copy and paste text from a website and it will display them at a speed you determine to help you improve your reading speed. See the video below for a better understanding. Another great site is Citebite. Students can copy and paste text into a text box. Then copy and paste the URL. When you click the MakeCitebite, you get a link to the page and a highlight of the text. Be a great way for students to cite information for a paper.
Popout
Mathematics
- A Maths Dictionary for Kids is a great resource for learning common math terminology that students come across. Search via Letter and then by term. It provides the definition and examples for students. Would be a great way to introduce a math vocabulary word each day.
All Subjects
- 200 Free Movies Online - These are some of the classics by some well known producers and directors. Some are also not as well known documentaries and Indies.
- From NBC Learn, the Science of the NFL. This site contains videos that help explain the science of football. This would be a great way to increase interest in science for several students in your classroom. You can also visitLessonopoly for teacher resources to go along with the videos. The final video will be posted this Friday.
Social Studies
- From National Geographic here is a great resource for theUnderground Railroad where you get to experience the journey as a slave. Another great resource is the History Lab. This site is a homepage for teachers to learn from other teachers how students are learning social studies through the use of digital tools. You can search by subject matter and by digital tool.
English
-Want to help students become faster readers and increase the words per minute that they are able to read? ZAP Reader does just that. You can copy and paste text from a website and it will display them at a speed you determine to help you improve your reading speed. See the video below for a better understanding. Another great site is Citebite. Students can copy and paste text into a text box. Then copy and paste the URL. When you click the MakeCitebite, you get a link to the page and a highlight of the text. Be a great way for students to cite information for a paper.
Popout
Mathematics
- A Maths Dictionary for Kids is a great resource for learning common math terminology that students come across. Search via Letter and then by term. It provides the definition and examples for students. Would be a great way to introduce a math vocabulary word each day.
All Subjects
- 200 Free Movies Online - These are some of the classics by some well known producers and directors. Some are also not as well known documentaries and Indies.
Weekly Core Subjects Resources
This is my third edition of links/resources related to specific core curriculum. I wasn't sure if I would be able to sustain this, but week after week I find something new that I can share with others. Hope you find one useful.
Science
I have two this week for Science. Scale of the Universe is an interesting interactive that allows you to see how big the universe is and how small we are. I highly recommend sharing with students. There is some background music, so you might want to have speakers on mute. The second resource is Encyclopedia of Earth. A great resource for geography and biology classes. You can search for articles by subject and also find resources for educators as well. If you are really motivated, you can become a contributor to the site as well.
Social Studies
The Supreme Court by PBS is an interactive website available for teachers to have a better understanding of the Supreme. On the site you can find videos, games, time-lines, and lesson plans. Another neat feature is that you can create a log-in and guess how the court will decide on this seasons cases. This would be a great site for both Civics and U.S. History.
English
Write for Ten is a website for free-writing. The idea is to get people to just write for ten minutes and then share that on the web page. The other idea is to help you work on a long document by writing on it for ten minutes at a time. You will have to create an account to participate, but even if you don't, the concept of writing for ten minutes would be a great addition to the classroom. This site might help foster some ideas.
Mathematics
The following is a site that has several Math Interactives that could be used with an Airliner or SMARTBoard. "This multimedia resource includes interactive math activities, print activities, learning strategies, and videos that illustrate how math is used in everyday life. The resource addresses the following mathematics topics: Fractions; Integers; Percentages; Rate/Ratio/Proportion; Square Roots; Exponents; Patterns; Algebra; Linear Equations; Polynomials; Angles; Circles; Surface Area and Volume; Area and Perimeter; Triangles; Pythagoras; Trigonometry; Similarity and Congruence; Transformations; Shape Classification; Data Display and Graphs; Central Tendency and Distribution; and Probability."
Science
I have two this week for Science. Scale of the Universe is an interesting interactive that allows you to see how big the universe is and how small we are. I highly recommend sharing with students. There is some background music, so you might want to have speakers on mute. The second resource is Encyclopedia of Earth. A great resource for geography and biology classes. You can search for articles by subject and also find resources for educators as well. If you are really motivated, you can become a contributor to the site as well.
Social Studies
The Supreme Court by PBS is an interactive website available for teachers to have a better understanding of the Supreme. On the site you can find videos, games, time-lines, and lesson plans. Another neat feature is that you can create a log-in and guess how the court will decide on this seasons cases. This would be a great site for both Civics and U.S. History.
English
Write for Ten is a website for free-writing. The idea is to get people to just write for ten minutes and then share that on the web page. The other idea is to help you work on a long document by writing on it for ten minutes at a time. You will have to create an account to participate, but even if you don't, the concept of writing for ten minutes would be a great addition to the classroom. This site might help foster some ideas.
Mathematics
The following is a site that has several Math Interactives that could be used with an Airliner or SMARTBoard. "This multimedia resource includes interactive math activities, print activities, learning strategies, and videos that illustrate how math is used in everyday life. The resource addresses the following mathematics topics: Fractions; Integers; Percentages; Rate/Ratio/Proportion; Square Roots; Exponents; Patterns; Algebra; Linear Equations; Polynomials; Angles; Circles; Surface Area and Volume; Area and Perimeter; Triangles; Pythagoras; Trigonometry; Similarity and Congruence; Transformations; Shape Classification; Data Display and Graphs; Central Tendency and Distribution; and Probability."
Watch the video below for an introduction to Open Study.
Popout
Applications for Education
Open Study could be very helpful for students that need help beyond the times when their teachers are available to answer questions. Open Study could also be helpful for homeschool students and for students involved in independent studies.
Here are some related resources that may be of interest to you:
Ediscio - Collaboratively Create Flashcards
Flashcard Flash - Search for Flashcard Sets
Quizlet - Create and Share Flashcards
Creative Commons: What Every Educator Needs to Know
Getting an entire school on board with a digital communication platform aka classroom blog is a PROCESS. A (baby) step by (baby) step process… As the interaction between teachers, school, students, parent and global community increases, so does the need for other “little” pieces of 21st century literacies. For example
Creative Commons: What Every Educator Needs to Know
Here is presentation I had created in the past to give a brief overview of different copyright licenses.
The two videos mentioned in the slideshow are:
Copyright and Fair Use
Popout
Creative Commons: Wanna Work Together?
Popout
- Social and global networking
- Global awareness
- Social Bookmarking
- Copyright
Creative Commons: What Every Educator Needs to Know
Here is presentation I had created in the past to give a brief overview of different copyright licenses.
The two videos mentioned in the slideshow are:
Copyright and Fair Use
Popout
Creative Commons: Wanna Work Together?
Popout
I’m adding it to My Best Posts For Tech Novices (Plus A Few From Other People).
7 Must-Watch EdTech Videos
any
EVERY teacher. In no particular order... 1. Mr. Winkle Wakes A short story about the resistance of change in education. Mr. Winkle awakes from a long slumber to see how technology had changed the world - but not the classroom. 2. A Brave New World Wide Web One educator's journey to becoming a 21st century learner and teacher. 3. Introducing the Book A comic look at how "new technology", even basic technology, will always have a learning curve. 4. A Vision of Students Today A popular web video that gives a short summary and a unique perspective of today's students. 5. Did You Know 4.0 No EdTech video listing would be complete without one of the "Did You Know" videos. 6. The EdTech Community is Living in the 19th Century An open call to educators to take a look at the "system" that we know today. 7. The Machine is Us/ing UsWeb 2.0 In just under 5 minutes. This video shows how content is changing with advances in technology.
Here are six visual dictionaries and thesauri that can help your students better understand the meanings of words.
Snappy Words is a free visual dictionary and thesaurus. Enter any word or phrase into theSnappy Words search box and it will create a web of related words, phrases, and definitions. Hover your cursor over any word or phrase in the web to read its definition. Click and drag any node to explore other branches of the web. Double click on a node and it will generate new web branches.
Visuwords uses a web design to show users the definitions of words and the connections between words. To use Visuwords just type a word into the search box and Visuwords will generate a web of related words. Place your cursor over any of the words and the definition appears. Use the color-coded key to understand the connections between the words in any web.Lexipedia, likeVisuwords, provides the definitions of words along with a webbed diagram of related words and their definitions. In addition to definitions and diagrams, Lexipedia offers audio pronunciations of words although when I tested it the audio didn't seem to be working properly. In my side-by-side comparison of Lexipedia andVisuwords, both performed equally well, but occasionally offered different definitions and connections for the same word.Merriam Webster's Visual Dictionaryis divided into fifteen thematic categories containing more than 6,000 words defined and accompanied by images. You can find words and definitions by browsing through the categorized images or by using the text search bar.Wordia is a free visual, video dictionary. Wordia features a selection of user-submitted and professionally created videos explaining the meaning of a word. The videos focus on the everyday use of words while the text accompanying each video provides the dictionary definition of the word.Got Brainy features two sections; Brainy Flix and Brainy Pics. Brainy Pics is comprised of images that demonstrate the meaning of a word. Most of the pictures are submitted by students. Brainy Flix is comprised of short videos that illustrate the meaning of words. Just like with Brainy Pics, most of the videos are submitted by students.
Here are some related items that may be of interest to you:
10 Resources for ESL & Foreign Language Students
22 Frames - Captioned Videos & More for ESL
Snappy Words is a free visual dictionary and thesaurus. Enter any word or phrase into theSnappy Words search box and it will create a web of related words, phrases, and definitions. Hover your cursor over any word or phrase in the web to read its definition. Click and drag any node to explore other branches of the web. Double click on a node and it will generate new web branches.Visuwords uses a web design to show users the definitions of words and the connections between words. To use Visuwords just type a word into the search box and Visuwords will generate a web of related words. Place your cursor over any of the words and the definition appears. Use the color-coded key to understand the connections between the words in any web.
Lexipedia, likeVisuwords, provides the definitions of words along with a webbed diagram of related words and their definitions. In addition to definitions and diagrams, Lexipedia offers audio pronunciations of words although when I tested it the audio didn't seem to be working properly. In my side-by-side comparison of Lexipedia andVisuwords, both performed equally well, but occasionally offered different definitions and connections for the same word.
Merriam Webster's Visual Dictionaryis divided into fifteen thematic categories containing more than 6,000 words defined and accompanied by images. You can find words and definitions by browsing through the categorized images or by using the text search bar.
Wordia is a free visual, video dictionary. Wordia features a selection of user-submitted and professionally created videos explaining the meaning of a word. The videos focus on the everyday use of words while the text accompanying each video provides the dictionary definition of the word.
Here are some related items that may be of interest to you:
10 Resources for ESL & Foreign Language Students
22 Frames - Captioned Videos & More for ESL
"I understand how you feel" - The PYP Attitude Empathy
While we deal with eSafety issues in many of our classes, and while we promote a responsible use of technology for all students and educate students not to use technology to bully or tease people, we do explicity teach about cyberbullying in Grade 5 in our Sharing the Planet unit of inquiry to support their central idea that "finding peaceful solutions to problems leads to a better quality of human life". We use the following movie from Digizen to prompt a discussion:
Popout
and then we go on to have the students play this interactive game about decisions they could make during a school day to be responsible digital citizens.
Most of the students say they feel sympathetic for Joe, the main character in the movie and game. However what we talk to the students about is the difference between sympathy (feeling sorry for someone) and empathy (feeling with someone and understanding his or her perspective), and what they should do if they experience bullying themselves or if they are bystanders to bullying. It's important for students to know that they are not alone and that there are responsible adults who will help them deal with these situations before they get out of hand.
and then we go on to have the students play this interactive game about decisions they could make during a school day to be responsible digital citizens.
Most of the students say they feel sympathetic for Joe, the main character in the movie and game. However what we talk to the students about is the difference between sympathy (feeling sorry for someone) and empathy (feeling with someone and understanding his or her perspective), and what they should do if they experience bullying themselves or if they are bystanders to bullying. It's important for students to know that they are not alone and that there are responsible adults who will help them deal with these situations before they get out of hand.
We are Teachers is a wonderful social network for educators that I'm just now starting to find out about due to the magic of collaboration. Luckily, I came across this in reading the comments online from one of my top 10 lists that was on T & L's site.This is a network that is filled w/ innovative ideas on a number of different subject. Also, this community is filled w/ different educators from around the world so an array of ideas can be found here. Plus, people can receive prizes & cash by submitting their ideas and lessons.
I highly recommend checking out We are Teachers by clicking here, as it is one of the better online communities to come around in a while
10 Great Free Resources from Discovery Education
Discovery Education is an excellent resource for teachers. Many teachers know about Discovery Streaming, the Discovery Channel, or evenDiscovery Middle School Science. All of these are fee based services, but Discovery Education also has some great free resources for any teacher. Here are my top 10 (out of the 25 or so they have that are free).
1. Web 20.10 -http://web2010.discoveryeducation.com/ - Access great content on Internet Safety, Media Literacy and links to Web 2.0 Tool. The site is rich with little flash videos detailing the explanation and use of Web 2.0 Tools in the classroom. This is a great resource for new teachers and veterans to learn about Web 2.0 tools.
2. New Teacher Survival Central -http://discoveryeducation.com/survival/ - Includes Tech Tools for teachers and students, New teacher blogs, classroom tools, and curriculum resources, Tips/tricks on: Classroom Environment, Classroom Management, Parent Communication, Cool tips on Green Screens and more!
3. Science Fair Central -http://school.discoveryeducation.com/sciencefaircentral/?campaign=SFC - Great ideas how to create, launch and facilitate a Science Fair, including tips and ideas for student projects.
4. Discovery Education Lesson Plans -http://school.discoveryeducation.com/lessonplans/- lesson plans for all different subjects, sorted by K-5, 6-8, and 9-12.
5. Siemens STEM Academy -http://stem.discoveryeducation.com/ - Premier online community designed to foster student achievement in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math through the collaboration of STEM educators and sharing of best practices. Great resources, ideas, and more.
6. Kathy Schrock's guide for Educators -http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/- Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators is a categorized list of sites useful for enhancing curriculum and professional growth. It is updated often to include the best sites for teaching and learning.
7. Science of Everyday Life -http://scienceofeverydaylife.discoveryeducation.com/- Everywhere you look, there are wonders both big and small just waiting to be explored. Your school, your home, and your community are all boundless laboratories full of mystery, excitement and surprise. Join us as we uncover the magic all around us and tap the innovator within us…in the Science of Everyday Life. What a great way to connect science to students' lives and experiences by connecting science to everyday things.
8. Worksheets to Go -http://school.discoveryeducation.com/teachingtools/worksheetgenerator/wtg/index.html- great worksheets and activities for teachers to use. Sorted by subject and topic.
9. Puzzlemaker -http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/- create your own puzzles. Create and print customized word search, criss-cross, math puzzles, and more—using your own word lists.
10. NASA at 50 -http://discoveryeducation.com/NASAat50/ - NASA at 50 highlights key innovations and milestones in chemistry, physics, engineering, and space exploration from NASA's fifty-year history. Each clip serves as a gateway for further learning in science and history and promotes critical thinking and inquiry as essential components of scientific literacy.
Students can enjoy NASA at 50 in video or audio formats that are compatible with common portable media players. In addition, teacher's guides are provided for each clip to facilitate integration of this exciting and engaging content into lesson plans.
Students can enjoy NASA at 50 in video or audio formats that are compatible with common portable media players. In addition, teacher's guides are provided for each clip to facilitate integration of this exciting and engaging content into lesson plans.
Training resources for using Discovery Education resources:
Discovery Education Training Resources on Educational Technology Guy.
Lots of resources, articles, how-to’s, links, and more.
I have been trying to think of a new weekly post for this school year (it has taken till October to figure it out), but I thought it would be great to share resources related to specific content areas, especially the core subjects. Below you will find a resource for the four core subjects - Math, Science, English, Social Studies. Not that other subjects are not important, and not that I won't add on as the year goes on, I just wanted to start with these four to start out.
Social Studies
101 Great Sites for Social Studies Classes - A very valuable resource for all social studies teachers. Links with short descriptions of the website so you know what you are getting into. They are broken down by subject and topic area and split onto four pages. A great starting point for finding primary sources and resources for your classroom. Share with the social studies teachers in your district.
Science
Biology Corner - Shared through my RSS feed on theEducational Technology Guy, a great resource for teachers. I even had a teacher in my building tell me they thought it was a great resource. The site has loads of lessons and worksheets available to download. There is also a blog with useful tips and tricks for teaching biology. A handy resource for science teachers.
English
Neotake - An eBook search engine. You can search for a title of a book or an author and get both a list of results as well as images. It list a price and the format (site available) for the eBooks. You can narrow down your results as well. Seems like a useful search tool for finding eBooks, considering I think this will be the future of student textbooks this might be a useful site to keep handy.
Mathematics
Plus Magazine and Tools - Shared through my RSS feed onFree Technology for Teachers, this is a great resource to share how mathematics is used in the everyday world. On the site you can request to receive free posters, listen toPodcast, and play puzzles related to math. A very useful site for math teachers to explain how math is not just something you need to care about when in school.
Social Studies
101 Great Sites for Social Studies Classes - A very valuable resource for all social studies teachers. Links with short descriptions of the website so you know what you are getting into. They are broken down by subject and topic area and split onto four pages. A great starting point for finding primary sources and resources for your classroom. Share with the social studies teachers in your district.
Science
Biology Corner - Shared through my RSS feed on theEducational Technology Guy, a great resource for teachers. I even had a teacher in my building tell me they thought it was a great resource. The site has loads of lessons and worksheets available to download. There is also a blog with useful tips and tricks for teaching biology. A handy resource for science teachers.
English
Neotake - An eBook search engine. You can search for a title of a book or an author and get both a list of results as well as images. It list a price and the format (site available) for the eBooks. You can narrow down your results as well. Seems like a useful search tool for finding eBooks, considering I think this will be the future of student textbooks this might be a useful site to keep handy.
Mathematics
Plus Magazine and Tools - Shared through my RSS feed onFree Technology for Teachers, this is a great resource to share how mathematics is used in the everyday world. On the site you can request to receive free posters, listen toPodcast, and play puzzles related to math. A very useful site for math teachers to explain how math is not just something you need to care about when in school.
Homework and Charlie Brown
While browsing online for the Charlie Brown teacher voice as a joke to a friend, I came across this fantastic video about the different ways children approach a book report. I remember book reports being one of the most popular assessments when I was in school. Now, I see my niece struggling with them. She hates them and my sister and her often fight about her finishing them correctly.
Lucy
This is how my niece used to approach book reports by filling in as many words as possible. She would often count the words over and over again and try to find ways to sneakily add more. Like Lucy, I think book reports made her hate reading the book and I fear sometimes that some assignments we give and the way we give them make our learners hate learning. My niece loves to read and you’ll find her reading a graphic novel daily. She has also consistently been one of the top scorers in all her standardized tests, especially in reading. I’d attribute this more to her daily reading habits, since we have always received calls about her failure to turn in homework. We are fortunate she goes to a charter school that has allowed us to let her turn it in by the end of the six week period. However, I wonder if she does well in assignments and shows achievement in other ways if she should really have to do all the homework she is assigned?
Schroeder
Does his homework on a computer instead of writing it out like Lucy. He struggles with the report because he either did not read the book or doesn’t remember reading it. He decides to equate it to a book he does remember, Robin Hood. This brings up another point about giving students a choice. Do we give our students enough choices how they will approach a subject and what ways they will explore the subject outside of class?
Charlie Brown
He’s the perfect student that represents Alfie Kohn’s anti-homework arguments. Charlie Brown argues he “should be outside playing, getting sunshine and fresh air.” He also decides to leave it to the last minute.
Linus
Many educators would like their students to approach all assignments like Linus who has the curiosity to go beyond the book and link to his previous learning. He thinks about the book report and does research before even typing a word. However, most students aren’t Linus and even if they do approach assignments like this does this make the assignment valuable for most of the students?
All the challenges I give are listed in my various class wikis and are optional. I list several types of homework such as an online quiz, video, writing assignment, field trip, podcast, and so forth. My students can choose which they want to do and if they want to do them. They don’t get graded on the assignments but it helps them improve their English skills so the majority will choose to do the challenges. For my young learners, I have the parents do the challenges with them. I give these “challenges” because I believe my students need opportunities outside the classroom to practice and apply the English they learn, especially since they live in Germany. I don’t have to do this because my language institute has no grading or homework policy but I have seen my students achieve a lot in a year and I believe the weekly wiki tasks help them.
Shaun Wilden (@shaunwilden), a teacher trainer, recently asked various educators, Why do you set homework? These were their responses in a Wallwisher.
If you enjoyed this post, you may want to check out Alfie Kohn’s thoughts about why teachers shouldn’t give homework.
Popout
Let’s look at the learners…
I really like this video because I think we are familiar with these different types of learners in our classes. Most students aren’t wild about homework. In the video, even the ones who get the homework all respond, “Homework, yuck!!” The video shows four different approaches to the homework:Lucy
This is how my niece used to approach book reports by filling in as many words as possible. She would often count the words over and over again and try to find ways to sneakily add more. Like Lucy, I think book reports made her hate reading the book and I fear sometimes that some assignments we give and the way we give them make our learners hate learning. My niece loves to read and you’ll find her reading a graphic novel daily. She has also consistently been one of the top scorers in all her standardized tests, especially in reading. I’d attribute this more to her daily reading habits, since we have always received calls about her failure to turn in homework. We are fortunate she goes to a charter school that has allowed us to let her turn it in by the end of the six week period. However, I wonder if she does well in assignments and shows achievement in other ways if she should really have to do all the homework she is assigned?
Schroeder
Does his homework on a computer instead of writing it out like Lucy. He struggles with the report because he either did not read the book or doesn’t remember reading it. He decides to equate it to a book he does remember, Robin Hood. This brings up another point about giving students a choice. Do we give our students enough choices how they will approach a subject and what ways they will explore the subject outside of class?
Charlie Brown
He’s the perfect student that represents Alfie Kohn’s anti-homework arguments. Charlie Brown argues he “should be outside playing, getting sunshine and fresh air.” He also decides to leave it to the last minute.
Linus
Many educators would like their students to approach all assignments like Linus who has the curiosity to go beyond the book and link to his previous learning. He thinks about the book report and does research before even typing a word. However, most students aren’t Linus and even if they do approach assignments like this does this make the assignment valuable for most of the students?
Why do teachers give homework?
Like me, I know many teachers hate the word homework. I use the word “Challenges,” sound familiar from my posts? All the challenges I give are listed in my various class wikis and are optional. I list several types of homework such as an online quiz, video, writing assignment, field trip, podcast, and so forth. My students can choose which they want to do and if they want to do them. They don’t get graded on the assignments but it helps them improve their English skills so the majority will choose to do the challenges. For my young learners, I have the parents do the challenges with them. I give these “challenges” because I believe my students need opportunities outside the classroom to practice and apply the English they learn, especially since they live in Germany. I don’t have to do this because my language institute has no grading or homework policy but I have seen my students achieve a lot in a year and I believe the weekly wiki tasks help them.Shaun Wilden (@shaunwilden), a teacher trainer, recently asked various educators, Why do you set homework? These were their responses in a Wallwisher.
If you enjoyed this post, you may want to check out Alfie Kohn’s thoughts about why teachers shouldn’t give homework.
Challenge:
Add to Shaun’s Wallwisher and reflect on the homework you give this year.If you enjoyed this post, you may want to subscribe for FREE to receive regular updates!
What are your thoughts about giving homework?
With budget cuts all around us, it is not unusual for many teachers to face a common dilemma – one computer with a class of 25+ students. Have no fear – one computer classrooms are more manageable than you might think! There are several tricks you can do to help your classroom run smoothly, despite this obstacle. The following are a few tips I’ve compiled to help you manage a one computer classroom!Tip #2: Another strategy is to create “stations” or multiple activities, using the computer as only one of the tools necessary to complete assignments. Teachers can encourage the use of more traditional resources, such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, magazines, newspapers, and books within the school library. After a designated amount of time, students/groups should rotate to a different station.
Tip #3: Post a schedule of computer usage. Teachers should designate a certain amount of time for each student to have a turn using the computer in the classroom. For older students, why not make it the student’s responsibility to keep track of their appointed time?
Tip #4: Project the computer screen onto a larger screen so the entire class can see. This is especially helpful if you have an interactive white board, such as a Promethean ActivBoard, which can help take your lesson plan to the next level. This is a great way for teachers to engage students with vivid images, video and audio while using a computer in the classroom.
Tip #5: Use an auto response system. A great way teachers can engage students is to include lessons designed for group participation. With an auto response system, students can further contribute right from their seats! Mouse Mischief, a free auto response system, allows teachers to integrate surveys, polls, questions, and drawing activity slides into PowerPoint lessons.
Tip #6: Be extremely organized and plan carefully. Perhaps this is the most important tip because teachers must make sure things run as smoothly as possible in the classroom. Providing step-by-step instructions and examples of what work should be completed can help ensure that all students are prepared before it is their turn at the computer station.
Related Stories
5 Reasons Schools Should Switch To Online Tests by Shankar Ganesh
Part of the series: Cool Sites by Guest Author, Shankar Ganesh
Make no mistake – there’s an evolution happening in education right now. Schools are increasingly embracing technology to enhance learning in their classrooms. Still though, a few processes, like examinations, for example, are done in the traditional way. It’s time schools get rid of the plain old pen-and-paper way of testing and move to online tests. Here’s why:1. Time Saver
Since online tests are self-graded, Professors can be relieved of the burden of evaluating test sheets manually. There’s also a good chance that students will complete online tests quicker, once they get accustomed to the process.
This is perfect for public schools and universities – all the time saved can help instructors focus better on preparing lessons and course material. Students get their results in no time – enough motivation for them to get involved in academics.
2. No Logistical Challenges
Believe it or not: conducting paper-based exams is logistically challenging. Test times have to be scheduled and test sheets have to be gathered. There’s plenty of work involved and there are chances things could go awry.
An online testing platform eliminates all that cumbersome work. Scheduling tests can be done at the click of a button. Students can be batched and questions can be replicated in random order for each of those batches with little effort.
3. Multimedia
Schools have embraced multimedia by the way of instructions. It’s time to bring all that interactivity to tests. Multimedia is a great choice for authentically assessing a candidate’s level of understanding. Plain paper is inadequate in that respect and it should be chucked.
An online test can be embedded with relevant multimedia elements to make it more challenging, unique and fun for students. More student engagement, guaranteed. It’s not like assembling projectors in classes. Embedding videos and pictures is a piece of cake.
4. Low Cost
Development and delivery of online exams is much more efficient and cost effective when compared to distribution of paper and pencil-based exams. There’s not much effort involved in reproducing questions for tests if they’re done online. Scoring isn’t expensive as well – it is all automated.
In addition, online tests take away the costs involved in storing the enormous volume of data that is associated with the analysis of student scores and report generation. Online tests are your best bet.
5. Reduced Cheating
Better scores translate to more rewards in the US and according to experts, one to three percent of teachers tamper with students’ test scores every year. No disrespect to educators, but that means a few thousand teachers indulge in “actual cheating” annually (NYTimes story).
On the contrary, evaluation in online tests is completely automated – the computers know nothing about the candidates. There’s no way to skew answers and this is possibly the best way to do away with cheating in exams.
Popout
————————————————————-Shankar Ganesh is a young blogger from India. He’s pursuing his bachelor’s degree in engineering in India, and is currently working to make sure that more teachers and educators get to know about Zoho Challenge, Zoho’s sweetquiz maker application.
Virtual field trips are a great way to get your students to experience something new without having to actually go there. The Apple, a great resource for teachers, recently posted an article listing the 5 best Virtual Field Trips.
Use these virtual field trips as a free resource for your students.
Use these virtual field trips as a free resource for your students.
5 Tools to Create and Administer Quizzes Online
Other than attending staff meetings, writing and grading quizzes might be the least enjoyable part of teaching. Fortunately, there are some tools that can make the process a little bit easier. Here are five tools teachers can use to create and administer quizzes online. There are many other quiz and survey tools on the web, but not all of them provide the option to see quiz takers' results. These five were chosen because teachers can see their students' results.
I use Google Forms for giving short multiple choice quizzes. I create the quizzes in Google Forms, post them on my classroom blog, students take the quiz on my blog, and their answers appear in an easy-to-grade spreadsheet. Below I've embedded a slideshow with directions for creating and embedding quizzes using Google Forms, but here are a few points that should be emphasized.
1. Make sure the first question is "student name." Otherwise you won't know who submitted which answers.
2. You can mix question types (multiple choice, short answer, paragraph) but if you have too many types and too many students, the spreadsheet can become difficult to navigate.
3. When embedding the form into a blog, make sure you edit the width to fit within your blog's main column. You can use the same principles of editing the size of a YouTube video for editing the width of a spreadsheet.
Zoho Challenge is a part of the Zoho suite of document, presentation, and office productivity tools. Zoho Challenge is a tool that allows you to create and administer quizzes online. Zoho Challenge tests can be written with multiple choice or open-ended questions or a combination of both. Tests created with Zoho Challenge can have a time limit imposed or be given without a time limit. Each test can be individually assigned to test takers. Finally, when a test is created with Zoho Challenge the test creator can decide whether or not the test taker can see the results. In June of this year Zoho Challenge introduced an option for including comprehensive questions that you can use to write questions based upon a paragraph statement, an image, or a combination of both.
Popout
Last spring ProProfs launched ProProfs Quiz School. The ProProfs Quiz School gives quiz creators a digital report card that is tracked and stored online. The digital report card tracks information about the number of times a quiz is attempted and tracks the results of the quizzes. The Quiz School also allows quiz creators to control which users can access a quiz and place a limit on how many times a quiz can be taken. Finally, quizzes created through the ProProfs Quiz School allow quiz takers to get instant feedback on their answers.
MyStudiyo is an easy way to make a multimedia quiz for your website or blog. With MyStudiyoyou can include video, audio, and image file in your quiz. Each question in your quiz can have a different media format. There are two options for answer format, multiple choice or open-ended response. Quizzes are easy to create and easy to embed into a website or blog. If your students register for a MyStudiyo account before they take your quiz, you can monitor their quiz results.
That Quiz is an online quiz tool that has been around for a long time (in Internet terms), but is still widely used by educators. OnThatQuiz.org you can write quizzes and find quizzes that your students can use. ThatQuiz.org is kind of like a wiki of quizzes because teachers can share with others the quizzes that they have written. ThatQuiz.org does more than just provide quizzes for teachers. Students can take the quizzes online and get instant feedback. Teachers can use ThatQuiz.org to track the results of quizzes their students take. ThatQuiz.org started out as a resource just for math quizzes, but is now expanded to include vocabulary and geography quizzes.
I use Google Forms for giving short multiple choice quizzes. I create the quizzes in Google Forms, post them on my classroom blog, students take the quiz on my blog, and their answers appear in an easy-to-grade spreadsheet. Below I've embedded a slideshow with directions for creating and embedding quizzes using Google Forms, but here are a few points that should be emphasized.1. Make sure the first question is "student name." Otherwise you won't know who submitted which answers.
2. You can mix question types (multiple choice, short answer, paragraph) but if you have too many types and too many students, the spreadsheet can become difficult to navigate.
3. When embedding the form into a blog, make sure you edit the width to fit within your blog's main column. You can use the same principles of editing the size of a YouTube video for editing the width of a spreadsheet.
Zoho Challenge is a part of the Zoho suite of document, presentation, and office productivity tools. Zoho Challenge is a tool that allows you to create and administer quizzes online. Zoho Challenge tests can be written with multiple choice or open-ended questions or a combination of both. Tests created with Zoho Challenge can have a time limit imposed or be given without a time limit. Each test can be individually assigned to test takers. Finally, when a test is created with Zoho Challenge the test creator can decide whether or not the test taker can see the results. In June of this year Zoho Challenge introduced an option for including comprehensive questions that you can use to write questions based upon a paragraph statement, an image, or a combination of both.Popout
Last spring ProProfs launched ProProfs Quiz School. The ProProfs Quiz School gives quiz creators a digital report card that is tracked and stored online. The digital report card tracks information about the number of times a quiz is attempted and tracks the results of the quizzes. The Quiz School also allows quiz creators to control which users can access a quiz and place a limit on how many times a quiz can be taken. Finally, quizzes created through the ProProfs Quiz School allow quiz takers to get instant feedback on their answers.
MyStudiyo is an easy way to make a multimedia quiz for your website or blog. With MyStudiyoyou can include video, audio, and image file in your quiz. Each question in your quiz can have a different media format. There are two options for answer format, multiple choice or open-ended response. Quizzes are easy to create and easy to embed into a website or blog. If your students register for a MyStudiyo account before they take your quiz, you can monitor their quiz results.That Quiz is an online quiz tool that has been around for a long time (in Internet terms), but is still widely used by educators. OnThatQuiz.org you can write quizzes and find quizzes that your students can use. ThatQuiz.org is kind of like a wiki of quizzes because teachers can share with others the quizzes that they have written. ThatQuiz.org does more than just provide quizzes for teachers. Students can take the quizzes online and get instant feedback. Teachers can use ThatQuiz.org to track the results of quizzes their students take. ThatQuiz.org started out as a resource just for math quizzes, but is now expanded to include vocabulary and geography quizzes.
Okay, I have to thank Phillip Cummingsfor providing me this link. I am really intrigued about ways to use this in education. The idea behind NextUp is that you enter in the topic that you are covering, provide a time limit (MM:SS) and then it will countdown to help keep you on task. NextUp would be a great tool for those teachers that are struggling with time management.
links for 2010-05-18
5 Ways to Redesign Your Professional Development to Motivate Teachers and Increase Student Achievement
1.Stop Wasting Your Money and Use Your Assets
2.Build and Cultivate a Community of Learners
3.Design Meaningful, Practical, and Exploratory Sessions
4.Evaluate, Reflect, and Adjust
5. Let Go and Let Learn
PowerPoint Collections
I’ve just updated The Best Online Collections Of PowerPoints For Teachers.
Teachers First is a great resource that I just found out about from reading Alexandra Fransisco's wonderful blog,Zarco English. This is a collection of resources (sites, lesson plans, etc) organized by subject and grade level.
I highly recommend checking out Teachers First by clicking here!!
I highly recommend checking out Teachers First by clicking here!!
Ten Uses for Drop.io in Education
More than two years after its initial launch, Drop.io is still one of my favorite all-around web-based tools for teachers. Here are ten ways that teachers can useDrop.io
Update for clarification: Drop.io is completely free up to 100mb of storage. Beyond that, you can either pay a premium or simply create an additional drop. I just tested this a minute ago by creating a brand-new drop for free. Important: You DO NOT need to create an account to use Drop.io. In fact, if you try to create an account using the "sign-up" link you will be signing-up for Drop.io Manager which is not what you want to do.
Update #2: See the screen capture below to see how to use Drop.io for free.
1. Post documents and PDFs for others to view and download.
2. Post documents, links, videos, audio files for others to access and comment on.
3. Create voice recordings in MP3 format.
4. Establish a voicemail box at no cost to you.
5. Host online presentations.
6. Chat with others accessing your Drop.io page.
7. Create an anonymous @drop.io email account.
8. Create a "drop box" to collect work from students using the Drop.io upload widget. No longer available, it has been replaced by a "hidden uploader" which is not embeddable.
9. Use Drop.io bookmarklet to bookmark links and add them to your Drop.io page.
10. Offer RSS feed for updates to your Drop.io page.
(Click to enlarge) Important DO NOT try to sign-up using the account log-in and password field. Use only the steps to the left. You DO NOT need to create an account to use Drop.io
Here's a video overview of Drop.io
Popout
“Top 20 Websites No Teacher Should Start the 2010-2011 Year Without”
Top 20 Websites No Teacher Should Start the 2010-2011 Year Without is a great post from The Making Teachers Nerdy blog, and I’m not just saying that because she includes this blog on her list 
It’s well-worth a visit there. By the way, Making Teachers Nerdy is on The Best Blogs For Sharing Resources/Links list.
I would like to especially highlight two applications she Mrs. Smoke mentions:
Media Converter is a very easy way to download and convert online videos. I’m adding it to The Best Ways To Access Educational YouTube Videos At School.
I also like Troovi, which lets multiple people upload photos to the same url address.
Ten Uses for Drop.io in Education
More than two years after its initial launch, Drop.io is still one of my favorite all-around web-based tools for teachers. Here are ten ways that teachers can useDrop.ioUpdate for clarification: Drop.io is completely free up to 100mb of storage. Beyond that, you can either pay a premium or simply create an additional drop. I just tested this a minute ago by creating a brand-new drop for free. Important: You DO NOT need to create an account to use Drop.io. In fact, if you try to create an account using the "sign-up" link you will be signing-up for Drop.io Manager which is not what you want to do.
Update #2: See the screen capture below to see how to use Drop.io for free.
1. Post documents and PDFs for others to view and download.
2. Post documents, links, videos, audio files for others to access and comment on.
3. Create voice recordings in MP3 format.
4. Establish a voicemail box at no cost to you.
5. Host online presentations.
6. Chat with others accessing your Drop.io page.
7. Create an anonymous @drop.io email account.
8. Create a "drop box" to collect work from students using the Drop.io upload widget. No longer available, it has been replaced by a "hidden uploader" which is not embeddable.
9. Use Drop.io bookmarklet to bookmark links and add them to your Drop.io page.
10. Offer RSS feed for updates to your Drop.io page.
(Click to enlarge) Important DO NOT try to sign-up using the account log-in and password field. Use only the steps to the left. You DO NOT need to create an account to use Drop.io
Here's a video overview of Drop.io
Popout
Top 20 Websites No Teacher Should Start the 2010-2011 Year Without is a great post from The Making Teachers Nerdy blog, and I’m not just saying that because she includes this blog on her list
It’s well-worth a visit there. By the way, Making Teachers Nerdy is on The Best Blogs For Sharing Resources/Links list.
I would like to especially highlight two applications she Mrs. Smoke mentions:
Media Converter is a very easy way to download and convert online videos. I’m adding it to The Best Ways To Access Educational YouTube Videos At School.
I also like Troovi, which lets multiple people upload photos to the same url address.
It’s well-worth a visit there. By the way, Making Teachers Nerdy is on The Best Blogs For Sharing Resources/Links list.
I would like to especially highlight two applications she Mrs. Smoke mentions:
Media Converter is a very easy way to download and convert online videos. I’m adding it to The Best Ways To Access Educational YouTube Videos At School.
I also like Troovi, which lets multiple people upload photos to the same url address.
Listphile
Ever created a list for students? Listphile is a site dedicated to creating list in a database form that you can then access and do several different things with. You can even create a list in Atlases form (Great for map assignments). There are also databases that can you can collaborate with others on, as well as some other features. There is a directory that you can search through list already created. There is also a categories and tags section so that you can see other lists that people have done.
Each list that you can create can include a picture, information, links, video, etc. It is a great way to organize a database for your students, or create an area to organize links and resources for your classroom. For an introduction to Listphile, view their demo page for a video to see what all you can do with the product. To useListphile you will need to create an account which requires Username, Password, and email. The site does require email verification which can make it difficult to use in the classroom setting some times. In the future their will be a voting option as well, but unsure what that will mean. To create a list you will provide a Title, Description, choose the Type of List, Determine Rights/License, Category, and Membership requirements.
Impact on Education?
- Create a place for students to list results from research on a person, place, or event
- Use the Atlas feature and have students map out historic events and where they happened
- Have students create list of historic events, town descriptions, ways to save money, how to solve math problems, results of scientific experiments.
- As a teacher, create a list to share with students links to resources that they can use in your classroom
Catpin-Bubble Test
Catpin Productions is an excellent sited designed for teachers who want to create their own multiple choice bubble test sheet. This is ideal for those that want to create a test similar to those scan-tron sheets. What I really like about this site is all the options that a user has such as: button styles, answer sheets, different field requirements, etc etc.
Give Catpin a try by clicking here!!
Thanks to the wonderful blog Edgalaxy for the tip.
Listphile
Ever created a list for students? Listphile is a site dedicated to creating list in a database form that you can then access and do several different things with. You can even create a list in Atlases form (Great for map assignments). There are also databases that can you can collaborate with others on, as well as some other features. There is a directory that you can search through list already created. There is also a categories and tags section so that you can see other lists that people have done.
Each list that you can create can include a picture, information, links, video, etc. It is a great way to organize a database for your students, or create an area to organize links and resources for your classroom. For an introduction to Listphile, view their demo page for a video to see what all you can do with the product. To useListphile you will need to create an account which requires Username, Password, and email. The site does require email verification which can make it difficult to use in the classroom setting some times. In the future their will be a voting option as well, but unsure what that will mean. To create a list you will provide a Title, Description, choose the Type of List, Determine Rights/License, Category, and Membership requirements.
Impact on Education?
- Create a place for students to list results from research on a person, place, or event
- Use the Atlas feature and have students map out historic events and where they happened
- Have students create list of historic events, town descriptions, ways to save money, how to solve math problems, results of scientific experiments.
- As a teacher, create a list to share with students links to resources that they can use in your classroom
Catpin Productions is an excellent sited designed for teachers who want to create their own multiple choice bubble test sheet. This is ideal for those that want to create a test similar to those scan-tron sheets. What I really like about this site is all the options that a user has such as: button styles, answer sheets, different field requirements, etc etc.
Give Catpin a try by clicking here!!
Thanks to the wonderful blog Edgalaxy for the tip.
Give Catpin a try by clicking here!!
Thanks to the wonderful blog Edgalaxy for the tip.
Welcome back to School!
Welcome back to school! I hope everyone had a great summer and was able to relax and recharge. We started this week with teachers back on Monday, freshmen on Wednesday, and all students today. It's been a little hectic, but things are working out.
Here are some resources to help you get the year started.
Create a Personal Learning Network - a PLN is an excellent resource for help, advice, and sharing ideas.
Google for Educators - Google has a huge number of free resources for teachers and students. Check them all out (they're all free).
New Teacher Advice - some good advice for new teachers (and old ones too!)
Discovery Education New Teacher Survival Central - a great resource for all teachers (and free).
List of Discovery Education Resources for Educators - very good, inclusive list of Discovery Educations resources.
Overview of some free technology that can help you be more organized and efficient.
Some great websites and blogs to check out:
Tech and Learning Magazine - great magazine with educational and technology information and resources. Free subscription for teachers.
Edutopia - George Lucas foundation site dedicated to education.
Twitter - Twitter is a great resource for educators, especially #edchat.
(and follow me on Twitter @daveandcori)
Enjoy these resources and share yours with others.
Twisty Noodle
Twisty Noodle is a great simple site for creating worksheets and pages for students to color. A nice resource for the younger students.
Give Twisty Noodle a try by clicking here!
Welcome back to School!
Welcome back to school! I hope everyone had a great summer and was able to relax and recharge. We started this week with teachers back on Monday, freshmen on Wednesday, and all students today. It's been a little hectic, but things are working out.
Here are some resources to help you get the year started.
Create a Personal Learning Network - a PLN is an excellent resource for help, advice, and sharing ideas.
Google for Educators - Google has a huge number of free resources for teachers and students. Check them all out (they're all free).
New Teacher Advice - some good advice for new teachers (and old ones too!)
Discovery Education New Teacher Survival Central - a great resource for all teachers (and free).
List of Discovery Education Resources for Educators - very good, inclusive list of Discovery Educations resources.
Overview of some free technology that can help you be more organized and efficient.
Some great websites and blogs to check out:
Tech and Learning Magazine - great magazine with educational and technology information and resources. Free subscription for teachers.
Edutopia - George Lucas foundation site dedicated to education.
Twitter - Twitter is a great resource for educators, especially #edchat.
(and follow me on Twitter @daveandcori)
Enjoy these resources and share yours with others.
Here are some resources to help you get the year started.
Create a Personal Learning Network - a PLN is an excellent resource for help, advice, and sharing ideas.
Google for Educators - Google has a huge number of free resources for teachers and students. Check them all out (they're all free).
New Teacher Advice - some good advice for new teachers (and old ones too!)
Discovery Education New Teacher Survival Central - a great resource for all teachers (and free).
List of Discovery Education Resources for Educators - very good, inclusive list of Discovery Educations resources.
Overview of some free technology that can help you be more organized and efficient.
Some great websites and blogs to check out:
Tech and Learning Magazine - great magazine with educational and technology information and resources. Free subscription for teachers.
Edutopia - George Lucas foundation site dedicated to education.
Twitter - Twitter is a great resource for educators, especially #edchat.
(and follow me on Twitter @daveandcori)
Enjoy these resources and share yours with others.
Twisty Noodle is a great simple site for creating worksheets and pages for students to color. A nice resource for the younger students.
Give Twisty Noodle a try by clicking here!
Give Twisty Noodle a try by clicking here!
Work Sheet Works
Work Sheet Works is a wonderful site for creating handouts for any number of subjects such as: math, english, geography, etc.
I highly highly recommend checking out this useful website by clicking here!!
Thanks to Alexandra Fransisco for the tip!!
7 Technology Alternatives to Standard Homework Assignments
Standard Homework Assignment: Create a poster board over a book/person/event.
Technology Alternative: Create a Glog using Glogster for Education
Standard Homework Assignment: Find an article about a certain topic (Current Event maybe) and bring into class with a write up discussing the content
Technology Alternative: Have students find that article online and post a link to it on a blog or wallwisher wall discussing the content. Share the blog/wall in class the following day.
Standard Homework Assignment: Complete the questions from a certain section or chapter review in your textbook.
Technology Alternative: Create a Back Channel Chat using a site like TitanPad and discuss the questions from the book at a certain time that night.
Standard Homework Assignment (Math): Do a certain number of problems from your book and bring them in to check for correctness
Technology Alternative: Use a site like Twiddla and provide a whiteboard area for students to collaboratively work together on the problems.
Standard Homework Assignment: Complete a worksheet and turn in to the teacher the following day
Technology Alternative: Create the worksheet and make it available to students online (Use a Word to PDF converter). Have students search the Internet for the answers and provide a link to the source for where they found the answer.
Standard Homework Assignment: Read a poem/story/section of a book and be prepared to discuss in class the next day
Technology Alternative: Read a poem/story/section of a book and create a blog or Twitter account for students to discuss the night they read it. Then share the comments on the blog with students to facilitate the discussion in class the next day. It also provides a way to grade them for participating in the reading. If they do a blog response, they get a grade, if not, they don't.
Standard Homework Assignment: Write a Poem.
Technology Alternative: Use a site like PicLits and write the poem using an image as inspiration. Email the completed poem to the teacher. Share in class.
Work Sheet Works
Work Sheet Works is a wonderful site for creating handouts for any number of subjects such as: math, english, geography, etc.
I highly highly recommend checking out this useful website by clicking here!!
Thanks to Alexandra Fransisco for the tip!!
I highly highly recommend checking out this useful website by clicking here!!
Thanks to Alexandra Fransisco for the tip!!
Standard Homework Assignment: Create a poster board over a book/person/event.
Technology Alternative: Create a Glog using Glogster for Education
Standard Homework Assignment: Find an article about a certain topic (Current Event maybe) and bring into class with a write up discussing the content
Technology Alternative: Have students find that article online and post a link to it on a blog or wallwisher wall discussing the content. Share the blog/wall in class the following day.
Standard Homework Assignment: Complete the questions from a certain section or chapter review in your textbook.
Technology Alternative: Create a Back Channel Chat using a site like TitanPad and discuss the questions from the book at a certain time that night.
Standard Homework Assignment (Math): Do a certain number of problems from your book and bring them in to check for correctness
Technology Alternative: Use a site like Twiddla and provide a whiteboard area for students to collaboratively work together on the problems.
Standard Homework Assignment: Complete a worksheet and turn in to the teacher the following day
Technology Alternative: Create the worksheet and make it available to students online (Use a Word to PDF converter). Have students search the Internet for the answers and provide a link to the source for where they found the answer.
Standard Homework Assignment: Read a poem/story/section of a book and be prepared to discuss in class the next day
Technology Alternative: Read a poem/story/section of a book and create a blog or Twitter account for students to discuss the night they read it. Then share the comments on the blog with students to facilitate the discussion in class the next day. It also provides a way to grade them for participating in the reading. If they do a blog response, they get a grade, if not, they don't.
Standard Homework Assignment: Write a Poem.
Technology Alternative: Use a site like PicLits and write the poem using an image as inspiration. Email the completed poem to the teacher. Share in class.
Technology Alternative: Create a Glog using Glogster for Education
Standard Homework Assignment: Find an article about a certain topic (Current Event maybe) and bring into class with a write up discussing the content
Technology Alternative: Have students find that article online and post a link to it on a blog or wallwisher wall discussing the content. Share the blog/wall in class the following day.
Standard Homework Assignment: Complete the questions from a certain section or chapter review in your textbook.
Technology Alternative: Create a Back Channel Chat using a site like TitanPad and discuss the questions from the book at a certain time that night.
Standard Homework Assignment (Math): Do a certain number of problems from your book and bring them in to check for correctness
Technology Alternative: Use a site like Twiddla and provide a whiteboard area for students to collaboratively work together on the problems.
Standard Homework Assignment: Complete a worksheet and turn in to the teacher the following day
Technology Alternative: Create the worksheet and make it available to students online (Use a Word to PDF converter). Have students search the Internet for the answers and provide a link to the source for where they found the answer.
Standard Homework Assignment: Read a poem/story/section of a book and be prepared to discuss in class the next day
Technology Alternative: Read a poem/story/section of a book and create a blog or Twitter account for students to discuss the night they read it. Then share the comments on the blog with students to facilitate the discussion in class the next day. It also provides a way to grade them for participating in the reading. If they do a blog response, they get a grade, if not, they don't.
Standard Homework Assignment: Write a Poem.
Technology Alternative: Use a site like PicLits and write the poem using an image as inspiration. Email the completed poem to the teacher. Share in class.
11 Techy Things for Teachers to Try This Year
The new school year is here for many teachers. For those who haven't started school yet, the new school year will be here soon. If you've set the goal of trying something new in your classroom this year (shouldn't that always be one of our goals), here are eleven techy things teachers should try this year.
1. Build a Blog or Build a Better Blog
Blogs can serve many purposes for teachers. You can use a blog to communicate information to parents and students. You can use a blog to create a running journal of classroom activities and lessons throughout the year. Blogs can be used by students to record and reflect on their own learning. Make your students contributing authors on a class blog and have them write a weekly reflection on their own learning.
Three good platforms for classroom blogging are Blogger, Edublogs, and Kid Blog. All three of those platforms are very easy to start as they don't require any technical knowledge on your part. All three of those platforms allow you to control your blog's visibility settings. Get directions for creating Blogger and Edublogs blogs here. (Disclosure: Edublogs is an advertiser on Free Technology for Teachers.)
2. Build a Wiki With Your Students
Building pages on a wiki is a great way for students to record and share knowledge about topics they've researched. Last year one of my classes created a wiki about 1920's culture in the United States. When everyone was done contributing one of my students made the observation that the wiki had more information than the textbook, he was right.
Teachers and students can also use wikis to create digital portfolios. Students can create and edit their own pages to show-off the work they're most proud of.
Wikispaces, PB Works, and Wet Paint provide free wiki hosting. I prefer Wikispaces because they provide free advertising-free wiki hosting to teachers. Learn how to use Wikispaces here.
3. Build a Website
So a blog doesn't provide quite what you're looking for and a wiki doesn't either? Try building your own website. On your website you can include calendars of assignment due dates (try Google Calendar), post reference videos and documents for students and parents, and even collect assignments.
Building a website used to be a difficult, technical process. That is not the case anymore. There are many free website creation and hosting services available on the web. Google Sitescan be used to create a website containing blog and wiki elements. Learn how to use Google Sites in my publication Google for Teachers II. Some other website creation and hosting services you might want to try areWeebly, Webs, and Yola.
4. Create Videos Without Purchasing any Equipment
Video is a powerful form of communication. It wasn't that long ago that classroom video projects required possession of expensive editing software and other equipment. That is no longer the case. Today, anyone with access to the web can make a high-quality video production. Two of my favorite web-based video creation services are Animoto and JayCut. Of the two Animotois the easiest to use while JayCut offers the most editing options. Learn how to use Animoto in my free publication Making Videos on the Web.
5. Create Maps to Tell a Story
Maps are obviously useful for Social Studies teachers, but did you know that you can also use multimedia maps to tell a story? Google Maps and Google Earth can both be used to create a multimedia story. Try having your students write the biography of a famous person by plotting points on a map and adding text, images, and videos about that person to each placemark. Visit Jerome Burg's Google Lit Trips to learn more about using Google Earth in a literature course. Visit Tom Barrett's Maths Maps to get ideas for using maps in mathematics lessons. Need some general directions for using Google Maps or Google Earth please consult my free publications Google for Teachers and Google Earth Across the Curriculum.
6. Try Backchanneling in Your Classroom
As staffing cuts create larger class sizes, it is becoming more difficult for some teachers to hear every student's question and or comment. Some students are reluctant to verbally share their thoughts in the classroom. And some students just have to blurt-out every thought or question they have as soon as they have it. Creating a backchannel for your students can address all three of those problems.
A backchannel is another name for a chat room in which your students type their questions and comments whenever they have them. You can then address those questions and comments immediately, have students reply to each other, or address the questions when time permits. Learn more about the uses of backchannels inmy presentation about using backchannels in the classroom.
Here are some school-friendly services that can be used to host backchannels: Today's Meet, Chatzy, Edmodo, and Present.ly.
7. Join a Social Network for Your Professional Development
Social networks can be used for much more than just sharing pictures of your kids with you old high school friends. Twitter, Classroom 2.0, and The Educators PLN are great places to connect with other teachers around the world. Use these connections to gather ideas for improving your lesson plans, share and find great web resources, and perhaps virtually connect your classroom to another classroom. Check out the Flat Classroom Project for ideas about connecting classrooms around the world. View my resources to learn how to build your own personal learning network.
8. Use an Online Service to Save Your Bookmarks
Every spring just before school lets out for the summer and all of the school-issued computers are re-imaged, some of my colleagues come to me in a panic wondering how to save all of the websites they have bookmarked on their computers. This problem could be completely avoided if they would just try using an online social bookmarking service like Diigo, Delicious, or Google Bookmarks.
Using an online bookmarking service allows you to access all of your favorite websites from any Internet-connected computer anywhere. All three of these services offer browser add-ons that allow to save bookmarks just as easily as you would with the bookmarking features in Firefox or Internet Explorer. These services also allow you to share your bookmarks with others (your students for example) and to add comments to your bookmarks so you remember why you saved each one. Learn more about online bookmarking services in this video from Common Craft. Learn how to use Google Bookmarks in my free publication Google for Teachers II.
9. Get Your Students Searching More Than Just Google.com
Give students a research assignment and the first place that most of them will go to is Google.com. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, but if that's all your students do they're not likely to find the best possible information. One of the ways you can do this is by introducing your students to Google Wonder Wheel and Google Timeline. Both of those refinement tools are built into Google Search. You should also show your students how to use Google's advanced search options. If your students are searching for information that contains numerical data such as distance and time, introduce them to Wolfram Alpha. Learn more about Internet search strategies and tools in my free publication Beyond Google. Learn how to build your own search engine in my free publication Google for Teachers II.
10. Have Your Students Create Podcasts
Creating podcasts is a great way for students to preserve oral histories or to hear themselves practicing a foreign language. Open source program Audacity and Apple's Garage Band are excellent platforms for recording podcasts. You can also record podcasts without installing software by using Aviary's Myna service orDrop.io's voicemail service. If you need a free place to host podcasts check outPodBean or Blubrry.
11. Eliminate Inbox Overload
Get all of your students using Google Docs or Zoho Writer this year to eliminate the need for them to send you document attachments. Simply have them share their documents with you. You can edit their documents and grade their documents without having to open attachments. Using Google Docs or Zoho Writer will eliminate issues associated with students sending attachments that you cannot open. Getting your students to use either of these services will free up a lot of storage space in your email inbox.
Stay tuned later this week for a free PDF guide on how to use the tools mentioned above.
If this is your first time visiting Free Technology for Teachers please consider subscribing.
47 Alternatives to Using YouTube in the Classroom
Some excellent educational content can be found on YouTube. However, many teachers cannot access YouTube in their classrooms. That is why I originally wrote what became one of the most popular posts to ever appear on Free Technology for Teachers, 30+ Alternatives to YouTube. That post is now fourteen months old and I've come across more alternatives in that time. Also in that time span some of the resources on the list have shut down. So it's time to update the list.
1. School Tube is a website dedicated to the sharing of videos created by students and teachers. School Tube allows teachers and schools to create their own channels for sharing their students' works. School Tube also provides excellent how-to resources, copyright-friendly media, and lesson plans for using video in the classroom.
2. Teacher Tube has been around for a while now, but I still run into teachers who have not heard of it. Teacher Tube provides user generated videos for teachers by teachers. Many of the videos on Teacher Tube have teachers sharing lesson plans in action. Some videos on Teacher Tube are simply inspirational. And other videos don't have teachers or students in them, but contain educational lessons none the less.
3. Teachers.tv is a UK- based website of videos for teachers and about teaching. Teachers.tv provides hundreds of videos available for free download. On Teachers.tv there are videos for all grade levels and content areas.Teachers.tv also has videos about teaching methods and practices.
4. Next Vista is a nonprofit, advertising-free video sharing site run by Google Certified Teacher Rushton Hurley. Next Vista has three video categories. The Light Bulbs category is for videos that teach you how to do something and or provides an explanation of a topic. The Global Views video category contains videos created to promote understanding of cultures around the world. The Seeing Service video category highlights the work of people who are working to make a difference in the lives of others. Watch this interview I did with Rushton to learn more about Next Vista.
5. Academic Earth is a video depot for individual lectures and entire courses from some of the top universities in the United States. Visitors to Academic Earth will find lectures and courses from Yale, MIT, Berkeley, Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford.
6. Snag Films and its companion site Snag Learning are great places to watch full length documentaries from producers like National Geographic for free. Snag Learning provides a catalog of educational films that are accompanied by classroom discussion questions.
7. How Stuff Works is a video site that I have spent hours exploring at times because I was sucked in by the quality of the educational content.
8. Viddler is a service that I enjoy using because of its integrated in-video commenting system. Viddler also allows you to record videos directly to the site through your webcam. I use Viddler to post messages to my students on my classroom blow when I know that I'm going to be out of the classroom.
9. One of the first things you'll notice about Vimeo is the image quality of the videos. The image and sound quality of the videos on Vimeo is far superior to many of those found on YouTube. Vimeo has all of the sharing options found on YouTube, but in a much cleaner and easier to use interface.
10. Blip.tv aims to provide video creators with a high-quality service for sharing their web shows. The content on Blip.tv tends not to include "cat" videos and "hey, Mom, watch this!" content.
11. Dot Sub is full of user generated content that is subtitled into many different languages. I had a hearing impaired student a couple of years ago and Dot Sub was very useful for both of us.
12. CNN Student News is a daily web show highlighting a handful of stories. The stories covered by CNN Student News range from traditional serious news topics to how-to stories appealing mostly to students to light and fun stories. As a social studies teacher every week I find at least a couple of stories from CNN Student News that I can work into my curriculum. CNN Student News provides printable maps and a daily news quiz to go along with each episode.
13. If you're interested in showing your students the inner workings of Congressional proceedings, visit the C-Span video library.
14. To give my students a little more global perspective on the news than CNN Student News provides, I will useReuters Video Index.
15. Hulu, a joint venture of NBC and News Corps, offers high quality video of television shows, movies, and old news broadcasts. In the past I've featured Hulu collections of NOVA programming and NBC News Time Capsules.
16. TED Talks are a great source of inspirational, thought-provoking, educational, and entertaining presentations given by some of the world's leading experts on a wide variety of topics. Check out this list of 15 TED Talks for Teachers.
17. Big Think is a video website containing expert commentary on a wide range of issues and ideas. The experts featured on Big Think really are experts in their fields. Harvard Professors, editors of major news publications, politicians, and other recognized authorities offer their commentary on various issues and ideas. Registered users of Big Think can comment on and discuss the videos or post an idea to have others discuss.
18. Untamed Science offers a collection of videos and podcasts about biology and Earth science topics.
19. FORA.tv is similar to Big Think in that it presents videos relevant to topics in the news and in the public conscious today. The videos feature well known personalities and experts talking about the important issues of the day. You will also videos of debates, press conferences, and public meetings.
20. PopTech is a conference similar to TED that features leading experts from a variety of fields sharing their knowledge and passions. Videos of the presentations can be found on the PopTech website.
21. iCue, presented by NBC News, features videos about history and current events. There is a capability to connect with other students to discuss topics and learn together. There are also quizzes and learning activities associated with many of the videos.
22. Current TV, the cable network started in part by Al Gore, features user generated content about a diverse array of cultural and current news topics.
23. PBS Video offers videos from the most popular shows including Frontline, NOVA, Nature, and American Experience. For the younger crowd, PBS Kids offers videos as well. If you're not sure what you're looking for, but you think PBS has an appropriate video you can search the PBS Video center by topic.
24 & 25. The History Channel and the Discovery Channel both offer a lot of content similar to and, in some cases, identical to that which is found on their respective television networks.
26. In addition to resources for learning languages, LangMedia offers a section called Culture Talk. LangMedia Culture Talk is a collection of video clips of interviews and discussions with people from many different countries, of different ages and from different walks of life. The videos are intended to give viewers insight into the cultures of peoples around the globe. Some of the videos feature English speakers while other videos do not. Those videos that are not in English are accompanied by a written English transcript.
27. The USGS Multimedia Gallery contains large collections of educational videos, animations, podcasts, and image galleries. You can search each collection by topic and or keyword tags. RSS feeds are available for each gallery.
28. PupilTube is a source of user-generated how-to videos. PupilTube hosts videos in thirteen categories. Some of the videos visitors to PupilTube can find include how to calculate compound interest, how to learn common Spanish phrases, and how to protect yourself from credit card fraud.
29. MonkeeSee.com is a collection of videos featuring experts sharing knowledge and how-to tips about the topic of their fields of expertise. MonkeySee.com, like many other video websites, has channels or categories. The channel most useful to teachers and students is the Careers & Education channel.
30. Europa Film Treasures is an online archive of classic European films. The films in the archive can be viewed for free on Europa Film Treasures. You can search the archives by dates, genre, country of origin, production method, and director. Along with each film in the collection Europa Film Treasures provides some background information such as production method, storyline, director's bio, and information about the the people appearing on camera.
31. Clip Syndicate is a provider of professionally produced news videos from television stations and other media outlets around the United States. Clip Syndicate also provides videos from the Associated Press. All of the videos on Clip Syndicate are categorized into 86 different channels. Users of Clip Syndicate can embed into their blogs one video or an entire channel of videos.
32. Explore.org produces and hosts high-quality documentary films and photographs. The films and images focus on exploring the world and the work of non-profit organizations around the world. The films and images are organized by location and by charitable and or environmental cause. Explore.org is funded in part by theAnnenburg Foundation.
33. 22 Frames is a service that provides a central location for locating captioned videos for learning English and for Internet users who have hearing impairments. 22 Frames provides more than just captioned videos. For each video 22 Frames provides a list of idioms, slang words, and commonly mispronounced words in each video. 22 Frames tells viewers where each use of idioms, slang, and commonly mispronounced words appears in each video. Viewers can click on any of the words in the lists provided by 22 Frames to find a definition for each word and to find pronunciation tips.
34. I like websites whose names say exactly what they offers. Free Video Lectures is one of those sites. Free Video Lectures is a library of more than 18,000 video lectures from more than 700 courses offered by some of the world's top colleges and universities. The library of videos can be searched by subject and or university. The video sources are a mix of YouTube and other providers. Many of the videos are available for free download.
35. Kids Tube is a video sharing hosting and sharing site designed for hosting content produced by kids and content about kids. Kids Tube monitors all submissions and monitors comments left on videos. To encourage students to develop their videography skills, Kids Tube holds weekly videos submission contests. The contests are arranged around a theme and one winner is selected by the Kids Tube team.
36. ESL Basics is a site that provides short video vocabulary lessons for beginning and advanced ESL students. For teachers, ESL Basics has a small collection of suggestions and ideas for teaching ESL. ESL Basics is adding new content on a regular basis.
37. FedFlix, hosted by the Internet Archive, is a collection of nearly 2000 films produced by the US government during the 20th Century. The topics of these films range from presidential speeches to agricultural practices to public health and safety. Some films are instructional in nature, for example there is a film for police officers on how to arrest someone. Other films are more informative in nature and some films are flat-out propaganda films. All of the FedFlix films are in the public domain so feel free to reuse and remix them as you and your students desire. The films can be downloaded or viewed online. Films can also be embedded into your blog or website.
38. Art Babble is a video website designed and maintained by the Indianapolis Museum of Art. The purpose ofArt Babble is to provide a place for people to learn about the creation of art, artists, and collections through quality video productions. Visitors to Art Babble will find videos related to many forms of and formats for art.Browse the video channels and you'll find videos covering a wide array of topics including abstract art, European Art and Design, African Art, graphic design, glass, sculpture, surrealism, and much more.
39. Math A Tube is a compilation of videos from a variety of users and other websites. Videos are categorized by mathematics topics and sub-topics. The videos demonstrate everything from basic addition through Geometry. The videos on Math A Tube are user-generated so some videos are better than others.
40. The Kids Know It Network is full of educational interactive games and movies intended for elementary school students. The Kids Know It Network hosts a number of animated videos explaining and demonstrating concepts from math, science, geography, and English. Each video starts with an introduction to a topic and is followed by a quiz. If a student gets less than 80% of the items correct they are prompted to start the video again.
41. The Futures Channel has come to the rescue of Math teachers who are constantly asked the question, "when are we ever going to use this?" On the Futures Channel there are many lesson plans and lesson ideas relating math (and other subjects) to current "real life" situations. And by "real life" the Futures Channel doesn't mean just converting recipes like my high school Algebra book did. Check out the Futures Channel today and stop answering the question, "when are we ever going to use this?" The Futures Channel isn't limited to just mathematics videos, you will also find videos for science, music, art, business, sports, and more.
42. The Biology Department at Davidson College has a large collection of videos and animations of cell biology processes. Most of the videos are in QuickTime format while most of the animations are GIF animations. The collection is divided into five categories; Movies of Cells, Movies of Cellular Calcium, Movies of Molecular Methods, Molecular Movies, and a miscellaneous category.
43. Wired Science has hundreds of videos addressing a variety of science and technology topics. In addition to the library of videos, Wired Science, has great articles and lists of science resources.
44. Test Toob is a free website where science teachers and science students can share videos of the experiments they conduct. The service is designed for use by middle schools and high schools. In addition to providing video sharing services, Test Toob offers suggestions for experiments that students can conduct.
45. Math TV offers an extensive collection of high quality mathematics tutorials. Math TV's video lessons cover basic mathematics and Algebra. Math TV videos are not easily embedded in other websites, but they are free and you can create your own individualized playlists.
46. Brightstorm is a provider of online study materials for mathematics as well as ACT and SAT preparation. The ACT and SAT preparation materials are not free, but the mathematics tutorials are free. The mathematics tutorials are videos featuring mathematics teachers explaining and demonstrating how to solve mathematics problems. There are tutorial videos covering Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, and Calculus.
47. The Week in Rap is produced by the same people that produce Flocabulary. Each Friday The Week In Rapposts a weekly news summary in the form of a rap music video. The videos cover stories from national and international politics as well as sports and entertainment news.
48. Please add your suggestions in the comments.
And if you are fortunate enough to work in a school that allows you to use YouTube, you still might want to useView Pure or Safe Share to prevent the accidental display of inappropriate "related" videos or advertisements.
11 Techy Things for Teachers to Try This Year
The new school year is here for many teachers. For those who haven't started school yet, the new school year will be here soon. If you've set the goal of trying something new in your classroom this year (shouldn't that always be one of our goals), here are eleven techy things teachers should try this year.
1. Build a Blog or Build a Better Blog
Blogs can serve many purposes for teachers. You can use a blog to communicate information to parents and students. You can use a blog to create a running journal of classroom activities and lessons throughout the year. Blogs can be used by students to record and reflect on their own learning. Make your students contributing authors on a class blog and have them write a weekly reflection on their own learning.
Three good platforms for classroom blogging are Blogger, Edublogs, and Kid Blog. All three of those platforms are very easy to start as they don't require any technical knowledge on your part. All three of those platforms allow you to control your blog's visibility settings. Get directions for creating Blogger and Edublogs blogs here. (Disclosure: Edublogs is an advertiser on Free Technology for Teachers.)
2. Build a Wiki With Your Students
Building pages on a wiki is a great way for students to record and share knowledge about topics they've researched. Last year one of my classes created a wiki about 1920's culture in the United States. When everyone was done contributing one of my students made the observation that the wiki had more information than the textbook, he was right.
Teachers and students can also use wikis to create digital portfolios. Students can create and edit their own pages to show-off the work they're most proud of.
Wikispaces, PB Works, and Wet Paint provide free wiki hosting. I prefer Wikispaces because they provide free advertising-free wiki hosting to teachers. Learn how to use Wikispaces here.
3. Build a Website
So a blog doesn't provide quite what you're looking for and a wiki doesn't either? Try building your own website. On your website you can include calendars of assignment due dates (try Google Calendar), post reference videos and documents for students and parents, and even collect assignments.
Building a website used to be a difficult, technical process. That is not the case anymore. There are many free website creation and hosting services available on the web. Google Sitescan be used to create a website containing blog and wiki elements. Learn how to use Google Sites in my publication Google for Teachers II. Some other website creation and hosting services you might want to try areWeebly, Webs, and Yola.
4. Create Videos Without Purchasing any Equipment
Video is a powerful form of communication. It wasn't that long ago that classroom video projects required possession of expensive editing software and other equipment. That is no longer the case. Today, anyone with access to the web can make a high-quality video production. Two of my favorite web-based video creation services are Animoto and JayCut. Of the two Animotois the easiest to use while JayCut offers the most editing options. Learn how to use Animoto in my free publication Making Videos on the Web.
5. Create Maps to Tell a Story
Maps are obviously useful for Social Studies teachers, but did you know that you can also use multimedia maps to tell a story? Google Maps and Google Earth can both be used to create a multimedia story. Try having your students write the biography of a famous person by plotting points on a map and adding text, images, and videos about that person to each placemark. Visit Jerome Burg's Google Lit Trips to learn more about using Google Earth in a literature course. Visit Tom Barrett's Maths Maps to get ideas for using maps in mathematics lessons. Need some general directions for using Google Maps or Google Earth please consult my free publications Google for Teachers and Google Earth Across the Curriculum.
6. Try Backchanneling in Your Classroom
As staffing cuts create larger class sizes, it is becoming more difficult for some teachers to hear every student's question and or comment. Some students are reluctant to verbally share their thoughts in the classroom. And some students just have to blurt-out every thought or question they have as soon as they have it. Creating a backchannel for your students can address all three of those problems.
A backchannel is another name for a chat room in which your students type their questions and comments whenever they have them. You can then address those questions and comments immediately, have students reply to each other, or address the questions when time permits. Learn more about the uses of backchannels inmy presentation about using backchannels in the classroom.
Here are some school-friendly services that can be used to host backchannels: Today's Meet, Chatzy, Edmodo, and Present.ly.
7. Join a Social Network for Your Professional Development
Social networks can be used for much more than just sharing pictures of your kids with you old high school friends. Twitter, Classroom 2.0, and The Educators PLN are great places to connect with other teachers around the world. Use these connections to gather ideas for improving your lesson plans, share and find great web resources, and perhaps virtually connect your classroom to another classroom. Check out the Flat Classroom Project for ideas about connecting classrooms around the world. View my resources to learn how to build your own personal learning network.
8. Use an Online Service to Save Your Bookmarks
Every spring just before school lets out for the summer and all of the school-issued computers are re-imaged, some of my colleagues come to me in a panic wondering how to save all of the websites they have bookmarked on their computers. This problem could be completely avoided if they would just try using an online social bookmarking service like Diigo, Delicious, or Google Bookmarks.
Using an online bookmarking service allows you to access all of your favorite websites from any Internet-connected computer anywhere. All three of these services offer browser add-ons that allow to save bookmarks just as easily as you would with the bookmarking features in Firefox or Internet Explorer. These services also allow you to share your bookmarks with others (your students for example) and to add comments to your bookmarks so you remember why you saved each one. Learn more about online bookmarking services in this video from Common Craft. Learn how to use Google Bookmarks in my free publication Google for Teachers II.
9. Get Your Students Searching More Than Just Google.com
Give students a research assignment and the first place that most of them will go to is Google.com. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, but if that's all your students do they're not likely to find the best possible information. One of the ways you can do this is by introducing your students to Google Wonder Wheel and Google Timeline. Both of those refinement tools are built into Google Search. You should also show your students how to use Google's advanced search options. If your students are searching for information that contains numerical data such as distance and time, introduce them to Wolfram Alpha. Learn more about Internet search strategies and tools in my free publication Beyond Google. Learn how to build your own search engine in my free publication Google for Teachers II.
10. Have Your Students Create Podcasts
Creating podcasts is a great way for students to preserve oral histories or to hear themselves practicing a foreign language. Open source program Audacity and Apple's Garage Band are excellent platforms for recording podcasts. You can also record podcasts without installing software by using Aviary's Myna service orDrop.io's voicemail service. If you need a free place to host podcasts check outPodBean or Blubrry.
11. Eliminate Inbox Overload
Get all of your students using Google Docs or Zoho Writer this year to eliminate the need for them to send you document attachments. Simply have them share their documents with you. You can edit their documents and grade their documents without having to open attachments. Using Google Docs or Zoho Writer will eliminate issues associated with students sending attachments that you cannot open. Getting your students to use either of these services will free up a lot of storage space in your email inbox.
Stay tuned later this week for a free PDF guide on how to use the tools mentioned above.
If this is your first time visiting Free Technology for Teachers please consider subscribing.
1. Build a Blog or Build a Better Blog
Blogs can serve many purposes for teachers. You can use a blog to communicate information to parents and students. You can use a blog to create a running journal of classroom activities and lessons throughout the year. Blogs can be used by students to record and reflect on their own learning. Make your students contributing authors on a class blog and have them write a weekly reflection on their own learning.Three good platforms for classroom blogging are Blogger, Edublogs, and Kid Blog. All three of those platforms are very easy to start as they don't require any technical knowledge on your part. All three of those platforms allow you to control your blog's visibility settings. Get directions for creating Blogger and Edublogs blogs here. (Disclosure: Edublogs is an advertiser on Free Technology for Teachers.)
2. Build a Wiki With Your Students
Building pages on a wiki is a great way for students to record and share knowledge about topics they've researched. Last year one of my classes created a wiki about 1920's culture in the United States. When everyone was done contributing one of my students made the observation that the wiki had more information than the textbook, he was right.Teachers and students can also use wikis to create digital portfolios. Students can create and edit their own pages to show-off the work they're most proud of.
Wikispaces, PB Works, and Wet Paint provide free wiki hosting. I prefer Wikispaces because they provide free advertising-free wiki hosting to teachers. Learn how to use Wikispaces here.
3. Build a Website
So a blog doesn't provide quite what you're looking for and a wiki doesn't either? Try building your own website. On your website you can include calendars of assignment due dates (try Google Calendar), post reference videos and documents for students and parents, and even collect assignments.Building a website used to be a difficult, technical process. That is not the case anymore. There are many free website creation and hosting services available on the web. Google Sitescan be used to create a website containing blog and wiki elements. Learn how to use Google Sites in my publication Google for Teachers II. Some other website creation and hosting services you might want to try areWeebly, Webs, and Yola.
4. Create Videos Without Purchasing any Equipment
Video is a powerful form of communication. It wasn't that long ago that classroom video projects required possession of expensive editing software and other equipment. That is no longer the case. Today, anyone with access to the web can make a high-quality video production. Two of my favorite web-based video creation services are Animoto and JayCut. Of the two Animotois the easiest to use while JayCut offers the most editing options. Learn how to use Animoto in my free publication Making Videos on the Web.5. Create Maps to Tell a Story
Maps are obviously useful for Social Studies teachers, but did you know that you can also use multimedia maps to tell a story? Google Maps and Google Earth can both be used to create a multimedia story. Try having your students write the biography of a famous person by plotting points on a map and adding text, images, and videos about that person to each placemark. Visit Jerome Burg's Google Lit Trips to learn more about using Google Earth in a literature course. Visit Tom Barrett's Maths Maps to get ideas for using maps in mathematics lessons. Need some general directions for using Google Maps or Google Earth please consult my free publications Google for Teachers and Google Earth Across the Curriculum.6. Try Backchanneling in Your Classroom
As staffing cuts create larger class sizes, it is becoming more difficult for some teachers to hear every student's question and or comment. Some students are reluctant to verbally share their thoughts in the classroom. And some students just have to blurt-out every thought or question they have as soon as they have it. Creating a backchannel for your students can address all three of those problems.A backchannel is another name for a chat room in which your students type their questions and comments whenever they have them. You can then address those questions and comments immediately, have students reply to each other, or address the questions when time permits. Learn more about the uses of backchannels inmy presentation about using backchannels in the classroom.
Here are some school-friendly services that can be used to host backchannels: Today's Meet, Chatzy, Edmodo, and Present.ly.
7. Join a Social Network for Your Professional Development
Social networks can be used for much more than just sharing pictures of your kids with you old high school friends. Twitter, Classroom 2.0, and The Educators PLN are great places to connect with other teachers around the world. Use these connections to gather ideas for improving your lesson plans, share and find great web resources, and perhaps virtually connect your classroom to another classroom. Check out the Flat Classroom Project for ideas about connecting classrooms around the world. View my resources to learn how to build your own personal learning network.8. Use an Online Service to Save Your Bookmarks
Every spring just before school lets out for the summer and all of the school-issued computers are re-imaged, some of my colleagues come to me in a panic wondering how to save all of the websites they have bookmarked on their computers. This problem could be completely avoided if they would just try using an online social bookmarking service like Diigo, Delicious, or Google Bookmarks.Using an online bookmarking service allows you to access all of your favorite websites from any Internet-connected computer anywhere. All three of these services offer browser add-ons that allow to save bookmarks just as easily as you would with the bookmarking features in Firefox or Internet Explorer. These services also allow you to share your bookmarks with others (your students for example) and to add comments to your bookmarks so you remember why you saved each one. Learn more about online bookmarking services in this video from Common Craft. Learn how to use Google Bookmarks in my free publication Google for Teachers II.
9. Get Your Students Searching More Than Just Google.com
Give students a research assignment and the first place that most of them will go to is Google.com. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, but if that's all your students do they're not likely to find the best possible information. One of the ways you can do this is by introducing your students to Google Wonder Wheel and Google Timeline. Both of those refinement tools are built into Google Search. You should also show your students how to use Google's advanced search options. If your students are searching for information that contains numerical data such as distance and time, introduce them to Wolfram Alpha. Learn more about Internet search strategies and tools in my free publication Beyond Google. Learn how to build your own search engine in my free publication Google for Teachers II.
10. Have Your Students Create Podcasts
Creating podcasts is a great way for students to preserve oral histories or to hear themselves practicing a foreign language. Open source program Audacity and Apple's Garage Band are excellent platforms for recording podcasts. You can also record podcasts without installing software by using Aviary's Myna service orDrop.io's voicemail service. If you need a free place to host podcasts check outPodBean or Blubrry.11. Eliminate Inbox Overload
Get all of your students using Google Docs or Zoho Writer this year to eliminate the need for them to send you document attachments. Simply have them share their documents with you. You can edit their documents and grade their documents without having to open attachments. Using Google Docs or Zoho Writer will eliminate issues associated with students sending attachments that you cannot open. Getting your students to use either of these services will free up a lot of storage space in your email inbox.Stay tuned later this week for a free PDF guide on how to use the tools mentioned above.
If this is your first time visiting Free Technology for Teachers please consider subscribing.
Some excellent educational content can be found on YouTube. However, many teachers cannot access YouTube in their classrooms. That is why I originally wrote what became one of the most popular posts to ever appear on Free Technology for Teachers, 30+ Alternatives to YouTube. That post is now fourteen months old and I've come across more alternatives in that time. Also in that time span some of the resources on the list have shut down. So it's time to update the list.1. School Tube is a website dedicated to the sharing of videos created by students and teachers. School Tube allows teachers and schools to create their own channels for sharing their students' works. School Tube also provides excellent how-to resources, copyright-friendly media, and lesson plans for using video in the classroom.
2. Teacher Tube has been around for a while now, but I still run into teachers who have not heard of it. Teacher Tube provides user generated videos for teachers by teachers. Many of the videos on Teacher Tube have teachers sharing lesson plans in action. Some videos on Teacher Tube are simply inspirational. And other videos don't have teachers or students in them, but contain educational lessons none the less.
3. Teachers.tv is a UK- based website of videos for teachers and about teaching. Teachers.tv provides hundreds of videos available for free download. On Teachers.tv there are videos for all grade levels and content areas.Teachers.tv also has videos about teaching methods and practices.
4. Next Vista is a nonprofit, advertising-free video sharing site run by Google Certified Teacher Rushton Hurley. Next Vista has three video categories. The Light Bulbs category is for videos that teach you how to do something and or provides an explanation of a topic. The Global Views video category contains videos created to promote understanding of cultures around the world. The Seeing Service video category highlights the work of people who are working to make a difference in the lives of others. Watch this interview I did with Rushton to learn more about Next Vista.
5. Academic Earth is a video depot for individual lectures and entire courses from some of the top universities in the United States. Visitors to Academic Earth will find lectures and courses from Yale, MIT, Berkeley, Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford.
6. Snag Films and its companion site Snag Learning are great places to watch full length documentaries from producers like National Geographic for free. Snag Learning provides a catalog of educational films that are accompanied by classroom discussion questions.
7. How Stuff Works is a video site that I have spent hours exploring at times because I was sucked in by the quality of the educational content.
8. Viddler is a service that I enjoy using because of its integrated in-video commenting system. Viddler also allows you to record videos directly to the site through your webcam. I use Viddler to post messages to my students on my classroom blow when I know that I'm going to be out of the classroom.
9. One of the first things you'll notice about Vimeo is the image quality of the videos. The image and sound quality of the videos on Vimeo is far superior to many of those found on YouTube. Vimeo has all of the sharing options found on YouTube, but in a much cleaner and easier to use interface.
10. Blip.tv aims to provide video creators with a high-quality service for sharing their web shows. The content on Blip.tv tends not to include "cat" videos and "hey, Mom, watch this!" content.
11. Dot Sub is full of user generated content that is subtitled into many different languages. I had a hearing impaired student a couple of years ago and Dot Sub was very useful for both of us.
12. CNN Student News is a daily web show highlighting a handful of stories. The stories covered by CNN Student News range from traditional serious news topics to how-to stories appealing mostly to students to light and fun stories. As a social studies teacher every week I find at least a couple of stories from CNN Student News that I can work into my curriculum. CNN Student News provides printable maps and a daily news quiz to go along with each episode.
13. If you're interested in showing your students the inner workings of Congressional proceedings, visit the C-Span video library.
14. To give my students a little more global perspective on the news than CNN Student News provides, I will useReuters Video Index.
15. Hulu, a joint venture of NBC and News Corps, offers high quality video of television shows, movies, and old news broadcasts. In the past I've featured Hulu collections of NOVA programming and NBC News Time Capsules.
16. TED Talks are a great source of inspirational, thought-provoking, educational, and entertaining presentations given by some of the world's leading experts on a wide variety of topics. Check out this list of 15 TED Talks for Teachers.
17. Big Think is a video website containing expert commentary on a wide range of issues and ideas. The experts featured on Big Think really are experts in their fields. Harvard Professors, editors of major news publications, politicians, and other recognized authorities offer their commentary on various issues and ideas. Registered users of Big Think can comment on and discuss the videos or post an idea to have others discuss.
18. Untamed Science offers a collection of videos and podcasts about biology and Earth science topics.
19. FORA.tv is similar to Big Think in that it presents videos relevant to topics in the news and in the public conscious today. The videos feature well known personalities and experts talking about the important issues of the day. You will also videos of debates, press conferences, and public meetings.
20. PopTech is a conference similar to TED that features leading experts from a variety of fields sharing their knowledge and passions. Videos of the presentations can be found on the PopTech website.
21. iCue, presented by NBC News, features videos about history and current events. There is a capability to connect with other students to discuss topics and learn together. There are also quizzes and learning activities associated with many of the videos.
22. Current TV, the cable network started in part by Al Gore, features user generated content about a diverse array of cultural and current news topics.
23. PBS Video offers videos from the most popular shows including Frontline, NOVA, Nature, and American Experience. For the younger crowd, PBS Kids offers videos as well. If you're not sure what you're looking for, but you think PBS has an appropriate video you can search the PBS Video center by topic.
24 & 25. The History Channel and the Discovery Channel both offer a lot of content similar to and, in some cases, identical to that which is found on their respective television networks.
26. In addition to resources for learning languages, LangMedia offers a section called Culture Talk. LangMedia Culture Talk is a collection of video clips of interviews and discussions with people from many different countries, of different ages and from different walks of life. The videos are intended to give viewers insight into the cultures of peoples around the globe. Some of the videos feature English speakers while other videos do not. Those videos that are not in English are accompanied by a written English transcript.
27. The USGS Multimedia Gallery contains large collections of educational videos, animations, podcasts, and image galleries. You can search each collection by topic and or keyword tags. RSS feeds are available for each gallery.
28. PupilTube is a source of user-generated how-to videos. PupilTube hosts videos in thirteen categories. Some of the videos visitors to PupilTube can find include how to calculate compound interest, how to learn common Spanish phrases, and how to protect yourself from credit card fraud.
29. MonkeeSee.com is a collection of videos featuring experts sharing knowledge and how-to tips about the topic of their fields of expertise. MonkeySee.com, like many other video websites, has channels or categories. The channel most useful to teachers and students is the Careers & Education channel.
30. Europa Film Treasures is an online archive of classic European films. The films in the archive can be viewed for free on Europa Film Treasures. You can search the archives by dates, genre, country of origin, production method, and director. Along with each film in the collection Europa Film Treasures provides some background information such as production method, storyline, director's bio, and information about the the people appearing on camera.
31. Clip Syndicate is a provider of professionally produced news videos from television stations and other media outlets around the United States. Clip Syndicate also provides videos from the Associated Press. All of the videos on Clip Syndicate are categorized into 86 different channels. Users of Clip Syndicate can embed into their blogs one video or an entire channel of videos.
32. Explore.org produces and hosts high-quality documentary films and photographs. The films and images focus on exploring the world and the work of non-profit organizations around the world. The films and images are organized by location and by charitable and or environmental cause. Explore.org is funded in part by theAnnenburg Foundation.
33. 22 Frames is a service that provides a central location for locating captioned videos for learning English and for Internet users who have hearing impairments. 22 Frames provides more than just captioned videos. For each video 22 Frames provides a list of idioms, slang words, and commonly mispronounced words in each video. 22 Frames tells viewers where each use of idioms, slang, and commonly mispronounced words appears in each video. Viewers can click on any of the words in the lists provided by 22 Frames to find a definition for each word and to find pronunciation tips.
34. I like websites whose names say exactly what they offers. Free Video Lectures is one of those sites. Free Video Lectures is a library of more than 18,000 video lectures from more than 700 courses offered by some of the world's top colleges and universities. The library of videos can be searched by subject and or university. The video sources are a mix of YouTube and other providers. Many of the videos are available for free download.
35. Kids Tube is a video sharing hosting and sharing site designed for hosting content produced by kids and content about kids. Kids Tube monitors all submissions and monitors comments left on videos. To encourage students to develop their videography skills, Kids Tube holds weekly videos submission contests. The contests are arranged around a theme and one winner is selected by the Kids Tube team.
36. ESL Basics is a site that provides short video vocabulary lessons for beginning and advanced ESL students. For teachers, ESL Basics has a small collection of suggestions and ideas for teaching ESL. ESL Basics is adding new content on a regular basis.
37. FedFlix, hosted by the Internet Archive, is a collection of nearly 2000 films produced by the US government during the 20th Century. The topics of these films range from presidential speeches to agricultural practices to public health and safety. Some films are instructional in nature, for example there is a film for police officers on how to arrest someone. Other films are more informative in nature and some films are flat-out propaganda films. All of the FedFlix films are in the public domain so feel free to reuse and remix them as you and your students desire. The films can be downloaded or viewed online. Films can also be embedded into your blog or website.
38. Art Babble is a video website designed and maintained by the Indianapolis Museum of Art. The purpose ofArt Babble is to provide a place for people to learn about the creation of art, artists, and collections through quality video productions. Visitors to Art Babble will find videos related to many forms of and formats for art.Browse the video channels and you'll find videos covering a wide array of topics including abstract art, European Art and Design, African Art, graphic design, glass, sculpture, surrealism, and much more.
39. Math A Tube is a compilation of videos from a variety of users and other websites. Videos are categorized by mathematics topics and sub-topics. The videos demonstrate everything from basic addition through Geometry. The videos on Math A Tube are user-generated so some videos are better than others.
40. The Kids Know It Network is full of educational interactive games and movies intended for elementary school students. The Kids Know It Network hosts a number of animated videos explaining and demonstrating concepts from math, science, geography, and English. Each video starts with an introduction to a topic and is followed by a quiz. If a student gets less than 80% of the items correct they are prompted to start the video again.
41. The Futures Channel has come to the rescue of Math teachers who are constantly asked the question, "when are we ever going to use this?" On the Futures Channel there are many lesson plans and lesson ideas relating math (and other subjects) to current "real life" situations. And by "real life" the Futures Channel doesn't mean just converting recipes like my high school Algebra book did. Check out the Futures Channel today and stop answering the question, "when are we ever going to use this?" The Futures Channel isn't limited to just mathematics videos, you will also find videos for science, music, art, business, sports, and more.
42. The Biology Department at Davidson College has a large collection of videos and animations of cell biology processes. Most of the videos are in QuickTime format while most of the animations are GIF animations. The collection is divided into five categories; Movies of Cells, Movies of Cellular Calcium, Movies of Molecular Methods, Molecular Movies, and a miscellaneous category.
43. Wired Science has hundreds of videos addressing a variety of science and technology topics. In addition to the library of videos, Wired Science, has great articles and lists of science resources.
44. Test Toob is a free website where science teachers and science students can share videos of the experiments they conduct. The service is designed for use by middle schools and high schools. In addition to providing video sharing services, Test Toob offers suggestions for experiments that students can conduct.
45. Math TV offers an extensive collection of high quality mathematics tutorials. Math TV's video lessons cover basic mathematics and Algebra. Math TV videos are not easily embedded in other websites, but they are free and you can create your own individualized playlists.
46. Brightstorm is a provider of online study materials for mathematics as well as ACT and SAT preparation. The ACT and SAT preparation materials are not free, but the mathematics tutorials are free. The mathematics tutorials are videos featuring mathematics teachers explaining and demonstrating how to solve mathematics problems. There are tutorial videos covering Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, and Calculus.
47. The Week in Rap is produced by the same people that produce Flocabulary. Each Friday The Week In Rapposts a weekly news summary in the form of a rap music video. The videos cover stories from national and international politics as well as sports and entertainment news.
48. Please add your suggestions in the comments.
And if you are fortunate enough to work in a school that allows you to use YouTube, you still might want to useView Pure or Safe Share to prevent the accidental display of inappropriate "related" videos or advertisements.
2. Teacher Tube has been around for a while now, but I still run into teachers who have not heard of it. Teacher Tube provides user generated videos for teachers by teachers. Many of the videos on Teacher Tube have teachers sharing lesson plans in action. Some videos on Teacher Tube are simply inspirational. And other videos don't have teachers or students in them, but contain educational lessons none the less.
3. Teachers.tv is a UK- based website of videos for teachers and about teaching. Teachers.tv provides hundreds of videos available for free download. On Teachers.tv there are videos for all grade levels and content areas.Teachers.tv also has videos about teaching methods and practices.
4. Next Vista is a nonprofit, advertising-free video sharing site run by Google Certified Teacher Rushton Hurley. Next Vista has three video categories. The Light Bulbs category is for videos that teach you how to do something and or provides an explanation of a topic. The Global Views video category contains videos created to promote understanding of cultures around the world. The Seeing Service video category highlights the work of people who are working to make a difference in the lives of others. Watch this interview I did with Rushton to learn more about Next Vista.
5. Academic Earth is a video depot for individual lectures and entire courses from some of the top universities in the United States. Visitors to Academic Earth will find lectures and courses from Yale, MIT, Berkeley, Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford.
6. Snag Films and its companion site Snag Learning are great places to watch full length documentaries from producers like National Geographic for free. Snag Learning provides a catalog of educational films that are accompanied by classroom discussion questions.
7. How Stuff Works is a video site that I have spent hours exploring at times because I was sucked in by the quality of the educational content.
8. Viddler is a service that I enjoy using because of its integrated in-video commenting system. Viddler also allows you to record videos directly to the site through your webcam. I use Viddler to post messages to my students on my classroom blow when I know that I'm going to be out of the classroom.
9. One of the first things you'll notice about Vimeo is the image quality of the videos. The image and sound quality of the videos on Vimeo is far superior to many of those found on YouTube. Vimeo has all of the sharing options found on YouTube, but in a much cleaner and easier to use interface.
10. Blip.tv aims to provide video creators with a high-quality service for sharing their web shows. The content on Blip.tv tends not to include "cat" videos and "hey, Mom, watch this!" content.
11. Dot Sub is full of user generated content that is subtitled into many different languages. I had a hearing impaired student a couple of years ago and Dot Sub was very useful for both of us.
12. CNN Student News is a daily web show highlighting a handful of stories. The stories covered by CNN Student News range from traditional serious news topics to how-to stories appealing mostly to students to light and fun stories. As a social studies teacher every week I find at least a couple of stories from CNN Student News that I can work into my curriculum. CNN Student News provides printable maps and a daily news quiz to go along with each episode.
13. If you're interested in showing your students the inner workings of Congressional proceedings, visit the C-Span video library.
14. To give my students a little more global perspective on the news than CNN Student News provides, I will useReuters Video Index.
15. Hulu, a joint venture of NBC and News Corps, offers high quality video of television shows, movies, and old news broadcasts. In the past I've featured Hulu collections of NOVA programming and NBC News Time Capsules.
16. TED Talks are a great source of inspirational, thought-provoking, educational, and entertaining presentations given by some of the world's leading experts on a wide variety of topics. Check out this list of 15 TED Talks for Teachers.
17. Big Think is a video website containing expert commentary on a wide range of issues and ideas. The experts featured on Big Think really are experts in their fields. Harvard Professors, editors of major news publications, politicians, and other recognized authorities offer their commentary on various issues and ideas. Registered users of Big Think can comment on and discuss the videos or post an idea to have others discuss.
18. Untamed Science offers a collection of videos and podcasts about biology and Earth science topics.
19. FORA.tv is similar to Big Think in that it presents videos relevant to topics in the news and in the public conscious today. The videos feature well known personalities and experts talking about the important issues of the day. You will also videos of debates, press conferences, and public meetings.
20. PopTech is a conference similar to TED that features leading experts from a variety of fields sharing their knowledge and passions. Videos of the presentations can be found on the PopTech website.
21. iCue, presented by NBC News, features videos about history and current events. There is a capability to connect with other students to discuss topics and learn together. There are also quizzes and learning activities associated with many of the videos.
22. Current TV, the cable network started in part by Al Gore, features user generated content about a diverse array of cultural and current news topics.
23. PBS Video offers videos from the most popular shows including Frontline, NOVA, Nature, and American Experience. For the younger crowd, PBS Kids offers videos as well. If you're not sure what you're looking for, but you think PBS has an appropriate video you can search the PBS Video center by topic.
24 & 25. The History Channel and the Discovery Channel both offer a lot of content similar to and, in some cases, identical to that which is found on their respective television networks.
26. In addition to resources for learning languages, LangMedia offers a section called Culture Talk. LangMedia Culture Talk is a collection of video clips of interviews and discussions with people from many different countries, of different ages and from different walks of life. The videos are intended to give viewers insight into the cultures of peoples around the globe. Some of the videos feature English speakers while other videos do not. Those videos that are not in English are accompanied by a written English transcript.
27. The USGS Multimedia Gallery contains large collections of educational videos, animations, podcasts, and image galleries. You can search each collection by topic and or keyword tags. RSS feeds are available for each gallery.
28. PupilTube is a source of user-generated how-to videos. PupilTube hosts videos in thirteen categories. Some of the videos visitors to PupilTube can find include how to calculate compound interest, how to learn common Spanish phrases, and how to protect yourself from credit card fraud.
29. MonkeeSee.com is a collection of videos featuring experts sharing knowledge and how-to tips about the topic of their fields of expertise. MonkeySee.com, like many other video websites, has channels or categories. The channel most useful to teachers and students is the Careers & Education channel.
30. Europa Film Treasures is an online archive of classic European films. The films in the archive can be viewed for free on Europa Film Treasures. You can search the archives by dates, genre, country of origin, production method, and director. Along with each film in the collection Europa Film Treasures provides some background information such as production method, storyline, director's bio, and information about the the people appearing on camera.
31. Clip Syndicate is a provider of professionally produced news videos from television stations and other media outlets around the United States. Clip Syndicate also provides videos from the Associated Press. All of the videos on Clip Syndicate are categorized into 86 different channels. Users of Clip Syndicate can embed into their blogs one video or an entire channel of videos.
32. Explore.org produces and hosts high-quality documentary films and photographs. The films and images focus on exploring the world and the work of non-profit organizations around the world. The films and images are organized by location and by charitable and or environmental cause. Explore.org is funded in part by theAnnenburg Foundation.
33. 22 Frames is a service that provides a central location for locating captioned videos for learning English and for Internet users who have hearing impairments. 22 Frames provides more than just captioned videos. For each video 22 Frames provides a list of idioms, slang words, and commonly mispronounced words in each video. 22 Frames tells viewers where each use of idioms, slang, and commonly mispronounced words appears in each video. Viewers can click on any of the words in the lists provided by 22 Frames to find a definition for each word and to find pronunciation tips.
34. I like websites whose names say exactly what they offers. Free Video Lectures is one of those sites. Free Video Lectures is a library of more than 18,000 video lectures from more than 700 courses offered by some of the world's top colleges and universities. The library of videos can be searched by subject and or university. The video sources are a mix of YouTube and other providers. Many of the videos are available for free download.
35. Kids Tube is a video sharing hosting and sharing site designed for hosting content produced by kids and content about kids. Kids Tube monitors all submissions and monitors comments left on videos. To encourage students to develop their videography skills, Kids Tube holds weekly videos submission contests. The contests are arranged around a theme and one winner is selected by the Kids Tube team.
36. ESL Basics is a site that provides short video vocabulary lessons for beginning and advanced ESL students. For teachers, ESL Basics has a small collection of suggestions and ideas for teaching ESL. ESL Basics is adding new content on a regular basis.
37. FedFlix, hosted by the Internet Archive, is a collection of nearly 2000 films produced by the US government during the 20th Century. The topics of these films range from presidential speeches to agricultural practices to public health and safety. Some films are instructional in nature, for example there is a film for police officers on how to arrest someone. Other films are more informative in nature and some films are flat-out propaganda films. All of the FedFlix films are in the public domain so feel free to reuse and remix them as you and your students desire. The films can be downloaded or viewed online. Films can also be embedded into your blog or website.
38. Art Babble is a video website designed and maintained by the Indianapolis Museum of Art. The purpose ofArt Babble is to provide a place for people to learn about the creation of art, artists, and collections through quality video productions. Visitors to Art Babble will find videos related to many forms of and formats for art.Browse the video channels and you'll find videos covering a wide array of topics including abstract art, European Art and Design, African Art, graphic design, glass, sculpture, surrealism, and much more.
39. Math A Tube is a compilation of videos from a variety of users and other websites. Videos are categorized by mathematics topics and sub-topics. The videos demonstrate everything from basic addition through Geometry. The videos on Math A Tube are user-generated so some videos are better than others.
40. The Kids Know It Network is full of educational interactive games and movies intended for elementary school students. The Kids Know It Network hosts a number of animated videos explaining and demonstrating concepts from math, science, geography, and English. Each video starts with an introduction to a topic and is followed by a quiz. If a student gets less than 80% of the items correct they are prompted to start the video again.
41. The Futures Channel has come to the rescue of Math teachers who are constantly asked the question, "when are we ever going to use this?" On the Futures Channel there are many lesson plans and lesson ideas relating math (and other subjects) to current "real life" situations. And by "real life" the Futures Channel doesn't mean just converting recipes like my high school Algebra book did. Check out the Futures Channel today and stop answering the question, "when are we ever going to use this?" The Futures Channel isn't limited to just mathematics videos, you will also find videos for science, music, art, business, sports, and more.
42. The Biology Department at Davidson College has a large collection of videos and animations of cell biology processes. Most of the videos are in QuickTime format while most of the animations are GIF animations. The collection is divided into five categories; Movies of Cells, Movies of Cellular Calcium, Movies of Molecular Methods, Molecular Movies, and a miscellaneous category.
43. Wired Science has hundreds of videos addressing a variety of science and technology topics. In addition to the library of videos, Wired Science, has great articles and lists of science resources.
44. Test Toob is a free website where science teachers and science students can share videos of the experiments they conduct. The service is designed for use by middle schools and high schools. In addition to providing video sharing services, Test Toob offers suggestions for experiments that students can conduct.
45. Math TV offers an extensive collection of high quality mathematics tutorials. Math TV's video lessons cover basic mathematics and Algebra. Math TV videos are not easily embedded in other websites, but they are free and you can create your own individualized playlists.
46. Brightstorm is a provider of online study materials for mathematics as well as ACT and SAT preparation. The ACT and SAT preparation materials are not free, but the mathematics tutorials are free. The mathematics tutorials are videos featuring mathematics teachers explaining and demonstrating how to solve mathematics problems. There are tutorial videos covering Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, and Calculus.
47. The Week in Rap is produced by the same people that produce Flocabulary. Each Friday The Week In Rapposts a weekly news summary in the form of a rap music video. The videos cover stories from national and international politics as well as sports and entertainment news.
48. Please add your suggestions in the comments.
And if you are fortunate enough to work in a school that allows you to use YouTube, you still might want to useView Pure or Safe Share to prevent the accidental display of inappropriate "related" videos or advertisements.
Wakerupper
Teachers Pet - Free Printable Teaching Resources
from Free Technology for Teachers by noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne)
Teachers Pet is a provider of free printable resources for teachers of three to eleven year old students. On Teachers Pet you will find materials to use in teaching science, mathematics, literacy, and social studies. You will also find printable items such as award certificates and signs for your classroom. Teachers Pet even has stickers that you can print (if you have sticker paper). One the popular items on Teachers Pet is a fractions bingo game. Below is an image of one of the six pages in the fractions bingo game.
http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2010/05/100-inspiring-ways-to-use-social-media-in-the-classroom
100 Ways to Use Social Media in the Classroomfrom Free Technology for Teachers by noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne)
Social media may have started out as a fun way to connect with friends, but it has evolved to become a powerful tool for education and business. Sites such as Facebook and Twitter and tools such as Skype are connecting students to learning opportunities in new and exciting ways. Whether you teach an elementary class, a traditional college class, or at an online university, you will find inspirational ways to incorporate social media in your classroom with this list.
http://www.donorschoose.org/
Teachers post projects for which they need funding (e.g. “$3,000 needed for microscopes in Mr. Mellon’s 9th grade science class at Sunnyside High School”), and donors fund the projects they want to support. When a project receives enough funds, Donors Choose purchases the materials and delivers them to the classroom.
http://topicbox.net/
TopicBox
from Technology Tidbits: Thoughts of a Cyber Hero by dkapuler
TopicBox is a search engine for educators that boasts some interesting numbers such as: over 2000 websites, 11 subjects, and 212 topics. It claims to have saved teachers an estimated 1,110,974 hours of searching (as the avg search takes 15 min).
Create a Quiz from a Catalog of Questions
from Free Technology for Teachers by noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne)
http://www.quizinator.com/
Quizinator is a free service designed to make the process of creating quizzes, exams, and other printable activities a more efficient process for teachers. Quizinator acts as a storage bank for multiple choice, true/false, and free response questions. Quizinator enables you to create a bank of your own questions or pick from their questions to create quizzes. If you create your own questions, you can include images in the question. To create a new quiz simply select the questions you want to appear on your quiz and Quizinator will add them to it. When you've selected all the questions you want, Quizinator will format the quiz for printing.
Where Quizinator shines is in its capacity for creating multiple versions of the same quiz. By selecting questions in a different order Quizinator allows you to rearrange the sequence in which questions appear on your quiz. That beats the heck out of retyping or even copying and pasting questions. Quizinator also provides a drag and drop function for editing the layout and elements appearing on your quiz.
Applications for Education
Quizinator could be a good resource for teachers who have to give the same quiz or test to multiple sections of the same course. Once you have your questions in your Quizinator account you can create many versions of the same quiz just by selecting questions in a different order each time you create a quiz.
http://www.edutecher.net/index.php
...a subject-organized list of links to Web tools; submitted and shared by teachers
http://www.google.com/educators/index.html
http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2010/04/02/the-best-sites-for-cooperative-learning-ideas/
Stop Bullying Now - A Resource for Kids and Adults
from Free Technology for Teachers by noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne)1 person liked this
http://www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov/kids/
Stop Bullying Now is a website for kids and adults developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The full collection of bullying education resources is quite substantial so I'll highlight some of the key features here and let you explore the rest.
Stop Bullying Now features twelve animated webisodes designed to teach students how to recognize bullying and how to respond if they're bullied or if they see someone else being bullied. Stop Bullying Now also features games and quizzes to help students learn to recognize the signs of bullying.
Stop Bullying Now has a large selection of resources for parents and educators. For educators one of the most useful resources is a selection of discussion guides designed to be used after students watch one or more animated webisode. Stop Bullying Now also offers a couple of webcasts (videos) intended to help adults learn more about bullying prevention.
Six Free Word Games from Dictionary.com
from Free Technology for Teachers by noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne)
http://www.dictionary.com/
Dictionary.com is the default online dictionary for millions of people. But did you know that Dictionary.com also has word games for your edutaining pleasure? This morning through Jeffrey Hill's English Blog I learned about one of six free word games offered by Dictionary.com. Miss Spell's Class is the game that Jeffrey Hill featured on his blog. In Miss Spell's Class students are presented with twenty commonly misspelled words and quickly decide if the spelling they're looking at is correct or incorrect.
Google Earth and Maps Lesson Plans
from Free Technology for Teachers by noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne)
http://www.google.co.uk/schools/primary.html
The many uses of Google Earth and Google Maps never ceases to impress me. But a lot of people hear the words Google Earth or Google Maps and only think about locating places and not all of the other things that can be done with these great tools. Google's site for UK schools has some great lesson plans for using Google Earth and Google Maps with primary school and secondary school students. (The equivalent in the US is elementary school and middle school).
The lesson plans from Google for UK Schools are complete, downloadable lesson plans for teaching lessons about animal habitats, climate change, fair trade, history and more. In all there are eight lesson plans for primary grades and thirteen lesson plans for secondary grades.
Thinkfinity
from Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... by Larry Ferlazzo
http://www.thinkfinity.org/
Verizon Thinkfinity offers comprehensive teaching and learning resources created by our content partners – the most respected organizations in each academic subject and literacy. The easy-to-navigate K-12 resources are grade-specific and are aligned with state standards.
http://www.yourwealthpuzzle.com/
Infographic for Understanding Credit Scores
from Free Technology for Teachers by noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne)
Your Wealth Puzzle is currently featuring a neat infographic that could be useful in a consumer education course. The infographic uses a board game format to demonstrate the steps a person needs to take in order to build and maintain a good credit rating.
Rubrics4Teachers
from Technology Tidbits: Thoughts of a Cyber Hero by dkapuler
http://rubrics4teachers.com/
Rubrics4Teachers is a great site for getting free educational rubrics on any number of subjects. Also, there are links to free Rubric generators/makers, and templates that you can download.
Free posters from NASA: http://eospso.gsfc.nasa.gov/eos_homepage/for_educators/eos_posters/index.php
http://freeology.com/
Freeology is a site that provides dozens of printable forms teachers. Freeology offers dozens of free graphic organizer forms, calendars, awards forms, and coloring pages. Teachers can also take advantage of Freeology's free math worksheet creator and free wordsearch generator. All of the forms on Freeology can be downloaded as PDFs.
http://www.21things4teachers.net/
21 Things for the 21st Century Educator is a site based on the National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers. It has a huge amount of resources that help teachers learn about technologies and how to use them in their schools to improve teaching and learning.
from Educational Technology Guy by Dave
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2010/03/print-your-own-wall-size-poster.html
Poster-Streetfrom Technology Tidbits: Thoughts of a Cyber Hero by dkapuler
http://www.poster-street.com/templates.html
Poster-Street is a great site for getting free posters on any number of areas such as: education, office, home, etc.
Thanks to Free Technology 4 Teachers for the tip!
ProProfs adds Useful Tracking Information
http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/
from Free Technology for Teachers by noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne)
The ProProfs Quiz School gives quiz creators a digital report card that is tracked and stored online. The digital report card tracks information about the number of times a quiz is attempted and tracks the results of the quizzes. The Quiz School also allows quiz creators to control which users can access a quiz and place a limit on how many times a quiz can be taken. Finally, quizzes created through the ProProfs Quiz School allow quiz takers to get instant feedback on their answers.
ProProfs Quiz School could be a good option for creating and posting quizzes online for your students. The quizzes offer instant feedback to your students and valuable feedback to you as well. The digital report card allows you to track trending data about your quiz takers. I might consider giving a quiz to students at the beginning of unit of study and then giving that same quiz at the end of the unit to track how much my students improved.
EdCrowd - Teach With a Crowd
from Free Technology for Teachers by noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne)
http://www.edcrowd.com/
EdCrowd is a new network for teachers in which they can share ideas, lesson plans, and other resources. EdCrowd is essentially a public message board for educators. Teachers can ask questions to start a discussion or simply sift through existing conversations and weigh-in where they feel comfortable. EdCrowd has a community rating system for answers. The rating system is designed to help visitors quickly recognize good advice. I'm not sure how useful the rating system will actually be, but EdCrowd certainly has potential to be a useful resource for teachers.
http://riskyroads.org/
Risky Roads
from Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... by Larry Ferlazzo
Risky Roads lets you type in any address or city and then see the number of (and details about) any fatal accidents that have occurred nearby.
http://photo.newsweek.com/2010/3/europe.html
“100 Places To Remember Before They All Disappear”
from Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... by Larry Ferlazzo
“100 Places To Remember Before They All Disappear” is a series of slideshows from Newsweek highlighting places threatened by climate change. It’s pretty impressive.
Wolfram Alpha for Educators -
Free Lesson Plansfrom Free Technology for Teachers by noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne)
http://www.wolframalpha.com/
Wolfram Alpha is one of those resources that contains such a depth of information and range of applications that it can almost be difficult to understand all of its applications. (Watch two brief video overviews of Wolfram Alpha on the website). To help educators understand some of the educational applications of Wolfram Alpha, late last week Wolfram Alpha launched http://www.wolframalpha.com/educators/ .
http://givingetting.com/content/?id=1
GIVINGETTING is where to donate or give away free stuff for reuse. It is the way of how to give free.
The marketplace for donated things. Free stuff to give away or getting for reuse.
GIVINGETTING allow people to give and get stuff they no longer need or to get what they need and don´t have, donating or getting it for reuse, achieving longer product cycle and also keeping useful stuff out of landfills
from Free Technology for Teachers by noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne)
http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2009/05/25/the-best-resources-for-helping-teachers-use-blooms-taxonomy-in-the-classroom/
http://www.lauracandler.com/
Teaching resources
Help your brain! http://www.fitbrains.com/
http://www.iloveschools.com/
iLoveSchools is a free service that helps teachers get supplies for their classrooms. iLoveSchools operates in a manner similar to that of Donors Choose and Class Wish. To get classroom supplies teachers register on iLove Schools and create a list of items that they would like to have for their classrooms. Donors then visit iLove School to choose a classroom to which they would like to donate supplies. A donor can contribute money toward purchasing the items a teacher has listed or a donor can contribute the actual items.(from http://www.freetech4teachers.com/)
http://www.booksshouldbefree.com/
Books Should Be Free is a provider of free audio books. Books Should Be Free hosts hundreds of free audio books in a wide range of genres. All of the audio books in the collection are either public domain or Creative Commons works. All of the audio books can be downloaded directly from Books Should Be Free and or iTunes. (from http://www.freetech4teachers.com/)
No comments:
Post a Comment