Journey to the Moon

This week, Tuesday to be exact marks the 50th anniversary of the first space flight.  In it's honor, snagfilms has made available a fantastic film called Journey to the Moon.  It is a 44 minute film that takes the viewer from the very beginnings of space flight to the safe return of the Apollo 11 astronauts. Very worthwhile video that could create some wonderful discussions in class.








Watch more free documentaries

A Math's Dictionary for Kids

A Maths Dictionary for Kids is an animated, interactive online math dictionary for students which explains over 600 common mathematical terms and math words in simple language. This is a great site for students to use prior to starting a new unit or area of study in math.  Users not only get a definition of math terms, but can interact and practice with examples.  I looked up the word symmetry. I was shown a definition and some examples using various letters from the alphabet.  For practice, I was to drag various letters into the appropriate box. Letters like A, O, I, and M were to go to the symmetrical box. Letters like G, Q, and P were to go to the not symmetrical box. I really liked that students get more than a definition. They SEE and example and INTERACT with a practice set.

The Week in Rap

Looking for a great resource to help jump-start discussions about current events? The Week in Rap summarizes current events in the U.S. and around the world in an engaging and entertaining way.  It reminds me of some of the songs done in the Bill Nye the Science Guy videos or what you might see on ChannelOne.  Take a look at this special episode done for graduating seniors last year.


The Last 18 Years in Rap 1993-2011 from Flocabulary on Vimeo.

TweenTribune

TweenTribune is a website that contains infinite number or current news articles that are categorized by subject and written at a middle school level.  While anyone can read the articles on TeenTribune without registering or logging in, students who do are able to post comments or take part in writing prompts or essay contests.  Teachers who register their classes are able to review and eventually approve all student posts prior to their being published. Students enjoy not only reading articles, but the reactions other students post about them.  This in turn, motivates them to post their own reactions to the articles.  Because students can select the topic or categories they wish to read, they always have high-interest reading materials available to them.  TweenTribune is available 24/7 as well, which, if students have 1:1 access they will never have to ask, "What do I do now?"
 

Digital Media: New Learners of the 21st Century

Thanks to Michael Richard who sent a link to the PBS site that hosts the video Digital Media - New Learners of the 21st Century.  In the  first chapter of  Digital Media producers criss-cross the nation to highlight real-life examples of how digital media is exploding in educational environments. This is video can be very eye-opening for those who still picture the classrooms, learning, and students they experienced as children.

Watch the full episode. See more Digital Media - New Learners Of The 21st Century.

History for Music Lovers

There are some days, days like today, where I am so happy I subscribe to some great blogs about educational technology. Today, I read a post from iLearn Technology about a YouTube channel "History for Music Lovers", created by/for history teachers that fuses the tune from popular songs, with words about historical events/people/places, and video to create historical music videos.  These are really something and can be a great way to engage students.

Qwiki

If ever there was a resource that made me say, "OMG!" then Qwiki is it.  I found this awesome site thanks to Richard Byrne's Free Technology for Teachers blog.   Qwiki is an online encyclopedia with over three million multimedia entries.  I say multimedia because when a topic is played, the viewer can read the text, listen to the text as it is being read, and view images that go along with the topic.  Viewers can also go to suggested entries based on the topic they just watched.  For example, I searched for an entry on the Gilded Age.  I viewed the multimedia information and was then given some suggested topics like Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, History of Immigration, and the Second Industrial Revolution.  Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, I found out that it is possible to embed these  Qwiki s on to a web page, wiki, or blog.  I tried it out and low and behold, it worked.  Take a look at the  Qwiki I embedded below.

Switch2Google Tutorial Site

Over the past several weeks I have been working on a tutorial site to assist the teachers of my district (MSAD#61) as we begin switching from FirstClass to Google Apps for Education. For my readers who are outside my district, this tutorial site may assist you as well if you are switching to Google Apps.

Luckily I did not have to reinvent the entire wheel as the good folks at Google had a template for me to use.  This template allowed me to just spend time customizing the site so that it worked for users who are switching from FirstClass to Google rather than say MS Outlook to Google.  The site contains links to videos and documents that will help you with this switch. It takes you from introducing you to Google Apps to more advanced features that you can add using the Google Labs. Perfect for self-paced instruction and those who don't wish to take part in a large group instruction setting.

So, if you click the link below, you will be taken to this tutorial site.
http://switch2google.lakeregionschools.org

Tooble: YouTube Video Download & Conversion Tool

While there can be a whole lot of stuff on YouTube that is not useful or appropriate for education, there are a large number of videos that tie in perfectly with what you are trying to teach.  Unfortunately, using YouTube in the classroom can create a new set of problems that may make teachers think that it is more trouble than it is worth (network issues, students getting access to inappropriate material, advertisements, etc.) 

Tooble is a great tool that will allow users to download YouTube videos and then converts them to .mp4 files (movie files that iTunes will play). Once the videos are downloaded, converted, and added to your movie library in iTunes, they will be available to you in any app that allows the use of media files like KeyNote, Pages, GarageBand, iMovie, etc.) Not only is having this ability to put YouTube videos in other documents great, but not having to rely on your network or Internet connection makes it a really beautiful thing.

As Angelina Roberts of the Total Apps blog states, you can embed YouTube videos into KeyNote in three simple steps:

Step 1 : Download and Install Tooble

Here is the link: http://tooble.tv/

Step 2 : Tell Tooble which Video you want !

Go to YouTube.com and  locate the video you want to download. Copy the URL by selecting the address and either using CMD C or via the Edit/copy menu option. 

Now go back to Tooble and click the “Enter a URL” button on the top right of the application and paste the URL in the appropriate field.

Obviously this can take a few minutes depending the length and quality of the video being downloaded.

Once complete you will find your downloaded video file in your iTunes Movies.

Step 3. Place in Keynote (for example)

You can now open or create a Keynote presentation, and by using the Media button, gain access to the videos that are stored in your iTunes media files. Simply drag the video from the Media window to the slide you want it to play on.

 

 

 

QuizSnack

QuizSnack is a quick and easy to use Web 2.0 tool for creating online polls and quizzes that can be viewed online or embedded into your blog, webpage, or wiki. I made a sample that your see below. What took the longest to do in making it was thinking of the names of the movies. Enjoy!

Super Book of Web Tools for Educators

Reposted from Free Techology for Teachers by Richard Byrne. Those of you who attended our Summer Technology Institute will remember Richard. His blog has over 25,000 subscribers from all over the world.
There are many teachers who want to start using technology in their classrooms, but just aren't sure where to start. That's why I got together ten prominent ed tech bloggers, teachers, and school administrators to create The Super Book of Web Tools for Educators. In this book there introductions to more than six dozen web tools for K-12 teachers. Additionally, you will find sections devoted to using Skype with students, ESL/ELL, blogging in elementary schools, social media for educators, teaching online, and using technology in alternative education settings.


The Super Book of Web Tools for Educators -

MathTrain.com

This site is part of the Mathtrain.com Project and was created to host student-created math video lessons all in one place. It was created by Mr. Marcos and his students at Lincoln Middle School in Santa Monica, CA. Videos are searchable by topic or by most viewed, most recent, or most discussed. The site is highly interactive and has an option to subscribe to their free podcast through ITunes. In addition to the student-created videos, there are also teacher-created videos with explanations on different math topics. Most videos are under 2 minutes in length making them perfect to use for introduction or review with different math topics. This site runs in conjunction with mathtrain.com. Below is an example on Prime Factorization.

Holiday Advisory Activity

I found a website called, "Top 10 Lessons I Learned from Charlie Brown." Go to the site and read through those lessons. Then come back to this blog post and watch "A Charlie Brown Christmas." Finally, write a response listing how you saw examples of the lessons in the video or about how one of the lessons really "spoke" to you.

Vocaroo

If you find yourself or your students recording audio for use in the classroom, then you should take a look at Vocaroo. This is a handy Web 2.0 tool that allows users with a built-in microphone to record audio very quickly that can be used for podcasts, narration, and presenting information to webpages, blogs, and or wikis. Like most Web 2.0 tools it is free, does not require an install, does not require a specific browser, or computer operating system.

For those very reasons, Vocaroo is different than say, Audacity. Simply click the record button, speak into the microphone, click the stop button. Vocarro automatically creates a link (or an embed code) you can quickly add to your web page. Unfortunately, it does not have an option to edit the audio, but that is part of what makes this tool so quick and easy to use. Have a microphone connected to your computer?… give it a try today.

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.