Write Comics

Write Comics is a great place to get started with digital story telling. It allows you to create your own online comic strip. One just needs to add a scene, characters, and text to create their own comic.

Guess the Google

If you are trying to teach students how to do more effective searching, you may find that students have trouble coming up with a good keyword to describe what they are looking for. One way to get them familiar with what Google comes up with when a keyword is entered is to have them practice putting in various keywords to see the results. The trouble with this is that they may get results that are inappropriate. Well, there is a game called Guess the Google. Users look at 16 pictures and try to determine what keyword describes them all. I played the game several times and I did not see any inappropriate pictures, but you should always double check first.

Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

OK. This has nothing to do with technology, but I couldn't resist. Last night we missed watching a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. If you missed it too, you can go to hulu.com and watch it, or you can view it right here. Happy Thanksgiving!

20 Things I Learned About Browsers and the Web

The good folks at Google have created a very well done ebook about browsers and the web called, "20 Things I Learned About Browsers and the Web".

From iLearn Technology: This interactive e-book is your guide to how browsers and the web work, how the World Wide Web has evolved, cloud computing, and what we need to know to navigate the web safely. The book has an enchanting quality with its humorous approach to the web (love the titles) and fun illustrations. This guide-book is one you will want to share with all of your colleagues, relatives, friends, students…you will want to dive into it yourself.


This handy little online book is a great one to share with students. Share an individual chapter (called a thing) or the whole book. Here your students can learn all about the web, how to keep themselves safe, and will know the difference between cloud computing and a web app. 20 Things I Learned is also a must share with your co-workers, neighbors, mom, grandpa, and the rest of the crew that is constantly calling you for your tech expertise.

Khan Academy

It has been a few hours since I found Khan Academy and I am still shocked and awed by its complete awesomeness. This site is the very reason why schools should keep YouTube open to its teachers and students. Khan Academy contains over 1800 video lessons on the topics of Math, Science, Humanities, and Interviews. What makes these videos different, it that the instructor is not only showing how to say, solve a problem in physics, but he is also talking about what he is thinking. Basically, thinking out loud while visually displaying the problem and the thought process. This is just so absolutely cool. Not only can viewers watch and learn from these videos, but they can also download them or get the embed code to embed them into their own web page, blog, wiki, or Moodle course. But wait, there's more. There are also practice exercises for some of the lessons as well that viewers can do simply by logging in with their Google Account. I am so happy that I stumbled upon this site. It is like the greatest thing since sliced bread. Oh yeah, the another great thing about this is: IT'S FREE!!.
Below, I have embedded a video on slope. Take a moment to view it to see how cool these videos are.

A Fair(y) Use Tale

As I was walking through the library, I heard little snippets of Disney Animated Movies. Being a HUGE Disney fan, I recognized the voices and phrases from several of the movies my boys watched when they were younger. It took a minute to realize though that the snippets were spliced together to make sentences about copyright law and fair use. I immediately did a search on YouTube and found the same video (titled: A Fair(y) Use Tale) the librarian had been using. I watched it, and WOW, what a cool way to introduce the topic of copyright and fair use.

You S*%K at PowerPoint

I came across this slideshow while viewing the Teacher Reboot Camp blog, and despite the name couldn't help but post it here because it is so true, and all teachers and students could benefit by looking at it. There are some great cardinal rules listed that all users of presentation software could benefit from, not just the technology gurus who make their living from them. So, please take a look when you get a moment.

YOU SUCK AT POWERPOINT!

View more presentations from @JESSEDEE.

Information is Beautiful

Many students and teachers learn best visually. Some of us just need to be able to "see" it in order for a concept to sink in. Information is Beautiful displays data in visual form which is just what the doctor ordered for visual learners? These infographics help viewers to make connections between related concepts. The general subject areas range from health to government to economics to science and more. This site can be used to teach data and the display of data graphically. Try assigning groups of students to choose a graphic and report to the class on how the data was made more meaningful by using the graphics that were chosen. You may also want to share this link as a research tool for debates or presentations on science or social studies topics. Discuss the science, history, or math behind the data collected. Discuss other information and ways of presenting the information in order to create a more interesting graphic. This infographics found at Information is Beautiful can spark conversation and creativity in your students.

TestMoz

Want to save the time it takes of correct quizzes and test? Try creating an online quiz with TestMoz. Online test creation really couldn't get any easier than it is with Testmoz. Once your test is created and students start taking it, results are found in the Reports tab. Students are listed along with their scores. This site works really well providing your remember or bookmark the url for the quiz or test and that you remember the admin password you gave it and students know the password they need in order to take the quiz or test. You can also use Google Forms for creating quizzes and tests just like Testmoz, but the plus here is that Testmoz will correct it for you.

iCivics

iCivics, which was inspired by Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, provides users with learning activities, games, and simulations that will help them learn about our American democracy. The games and simulations are excellent and cover so much more than just the typical "Three Branches" one finds at most websites about American government. I found out about this when reading a posting that was just about one of the simulations, "Argument Wars". Once I took a look at this simulation, I just had to see what else was offered at iCivics. I was not disappointed. I found games and simulations on Citizenship & Participation, the Constitution & the Bill of Rights, Separation of Powers, as well as each of the three branches of government. This is truly a unique site that I highly recommend.

WebList

I was doing a little surfing while watching the Celtics season opener last night. I eventually stumbled upon a neat little tool for providing students with links to web resources called Weblist. What I liked about Weblist was that sites can be arranged by topic and students see a thumbnail image of the site as well as a label for it. Students can click the thumbnail or the label to get to the site. This would be a great tool for teachers to create a weblist of only the sites they want students to use to complete a project, and because the teacher has already used and previewed them, students don't need to search for the sites or type in long urls. I created a Weblist of Writing and Vocabulary Resources that I have posted about this blog. Give it a try the next time you want students to use only certain sites in your class. There is also a short tutorial on how to create your own weblist.

Writing and Vocabulary Weblist

Pasting a Google Book into a Blog

The book that I am currently reading is, "21st Century Skills: Learning Life in Our Times". I believe all but one chapter is available for preview on Google Books. I was recently looking at instructions on how to embed a Google Book on to a blog, wiki, or webpage. I thought I would try it out here. In order to embed a Google Book title you would find the book in Google Books first. Next, click on the "Preview this Book" link. Then, click on the Link link. (see image above) Click on the embed code and copy it to your computer's clipboard. You can then paste the embed code into your webpage, blog post, or wiki.

Glickr.com "Create Your Own Animated Gifs"

Ever wish that you or your students could create their own animated .gifs?  Well, Glickr.com let's you do just that, for free, with no registration required.  Users can upload their own images or those found on Flickr, Picassa, YouTube, or their own gallery.  Once your animated .gif is created, you can download it for later use, get the url for its location on the Internet, or get the embed code you need for just about any Web 2.0 host you can imagine.

One Word: Writing Prompts

One Word will give you just that, one word, to use as a writing prompt. Users then have 60 seconds to type all that they can about the word. If users register for an account, they can see what others wrote about that word. If you are concerned that students' inability to keyboard quickly will get in the way, you can use One Word to get the word of they day and have student write out by hand their prompt. Also, you can give them more than 60 seconds to write if you wish.

5 Card Flickr

Are you familiar with the 5 Card Nancy game? Scott McLoud invented the game based on the premise that any 5 panels from any of Ernie Bushmiller's Nancy comic strips can be combined to tell a story. Alan Levine then extended this concept to create the 5 Card Flickr game.
The idea has evolved into something more than a parlor game. It has become an exercise in storytelling that teachers use to engage students and get their creative juices flowing. Check out the links at the bottom of this page to learn more about 5 Card Nancy, 5 Card Flickr, and what this kind of storytelling looks like in the classroom.
5 Card Nancy - http://www.7415comics.com/nancy/index.html
5 Card Flickr - http://web.nmc.org/5cardstory/play.php?suit=5card

We used this activity after lunch at a MLTI Leadership meeting. We wrote the stories, put the photos into iPhoto, then used Garage Band to make an enhanced podcast with audio of the story being read and the five pictures. This same activity could be done with KeyNote as well. I thought it was a really neat way to get the juices flowing.