CommonCraft site: http://www.commoncraft.com/
Blog made Simple: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN2I1pWXjXI&feature=player_embedded
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Should Teachers Blog? Could We Blog?
Now that I have been working on this blog for awhile, I continue to see major advantages to blogging. The only issue is time, but I think more and more, time may not be an issue if done right. Once the blogsite is set up and parents and other educators are notified about the site, you can get lots of information out to these people quickly and you can communicate back and forth through this same blog site. Obviously not everyone has Internet capabilities and not everyone will check your blog, but getting the information out is still very valuable, especially to some. (Side note....setting up a class page on Facebook, not "friending" your students and parents but setting up an information page, can also be a great classroom tool to use!) So...what is the hold up? Well, if you are like me, it was simply not knowing what a blog is or how to set one up? This brings me to my next informational link...Commoncraft videos. I am not embedding these videos or showing them to my class as you will learn even though they are free on the site and on Youtube, they do request you sign up for a license if you are using these for profit, using these for large group educational purposes, or using these in a training. Maybe not all are on Youtube and those on Youtube are free, I don't know, but either way, I think the link I have below is a great 3 minute plus video that makes blogs simple. I also recommend watching the short video about "RSS feeds" made simple. Long story short: Consider doing a class/teacher blog this year and see if it can add to your class.
Making "Book Trailers" as Option to Book Reviews
I am a huge fan of movie trailers (you know, the previews of upcoming movies before the real movie starts??). In fact, I often watch movie trailers online the day or week they come out and by the time I go to a real movie (not often with kids at home!), I have often seen all the movie trailers already online. But I still love watching them again. When Free Technology for Teachers alerted me of a site where you can watch and post "book trailers", I was intrigued. Not only did I enjoy watching a few, I agree with the idea that this could be something fun for students to do and make as well. I am not really sure how to make these book trailers, but I am sure there are multiple methods and I am sure it is similar to the way students videotape and post to Youtube as well. So, if you are teaching reading or language or just love books, take a look at this site and have some fun!
My Wonderful World is Wonderful for Social Studies
After reading about My Wonderful World website on Free Technology for Teachers, I gave it a try. I'm not a social studies teacher, but it is one of my favorite subjects. The main page has lots of information and interesting facts, as well as ways to navigate to areas for teachers, students, and parents. I tried one of the geography games (didn't do well, but it was a good game) and clicked on some of the links. Eventually, you find yourself on other National Geographic sites as this site is just an offshoot of National Geographic. Having the backing of National Geographic makes this even a better site. I don't think you could ever see everything on this site and it appears to change stories and information often, but I am sure you could find some items useful to students and your class, or at least to you as you teach. Have fun!
Search Engines for Students
I'm posting a link to a great resource from the blog "Free Technology for Teachers" by Richard Byrne. He has posted 7 different search engines that are safe and likely better for kids in our school to use when searching for factual and age-appropriate information. Feel free to try some of these. I have used the Sweet Search and the Wolfram Alpha searches before and had good successes in finding what I was looking for.
Link to Richard Byrne's blog:
Wiglington & Wenks: Interesting...Explore More
I made up an account on this site (very easy!) and explored around more. I have a feeling that this is a site students may use easier than adults. It is a mix of a virtual world/social networking and a variety of field trips and learning experiences. Granted, I only played around with it a little bit, but when I clicked on items within my view I would learn what they were and why they were important in history. From reading about this site, apparently, you can go on quests where you learn about history and places in our world while playing educational games. I would love to have some teachers try this out and report back or even have some students give it a try as a social studies extra project or extra credit. Could be kind of fun...maybe the students could show the teachers how it works! Either way, consider giving it a try as it looks like it could be fun and useful!
Monday, August 2, 2010
Clicker is a good spot for Finding Videos
You may find that you like this site already and didn't even think about using it for school, but it can be. In my former life as a science teacher, I was always looking for videos. Well, Clicker houses thousands of videos from major movies to major TV show series to science videos. If you want to show a NOVA video, look for it here...it may be free! Same with other Discovery shows. Or maybe you want to use a piece of a movie or a show that the kids know...well it may be free or at least available to download for a price and now you can show it. I think this site is similar to Hulu.com, so you might try both. I just happened to notice the large amounts of free science shows from TV on this site first. Enjoy!
also might try: http://www.hulu.com/
Sunday, August 1, 2010
BigHugeLabs is a fun place to Use Pictures
A fellow teacher (Thanks Erin!) helped me find this site and after I played around with it for fun and used my own kids' pictures, I realized that it could be good for teams and students as well. I think you could make the motivational photos of students when they do something good or just for fun. You might even be able to have students make educational picture things with the site. Take a look at the site and take a look at my sample pictures and then try some yourself. Note...I did not order my pictures, but wonder if I could print my motivational pictures off on photo paper and frame them? Hmmmm......
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