Online Method of Showing Student Work

A site named "Runt.ly" allows students to write information, add weblinks, add pictures or video, etc. No need to register (material is erased after 30 days if you don't register), so might be a fun way for students to create something online and a teacher to look at by simply clicking to their link. Possibly even parents, community, or other students to take a look to during the 30 days the material is up online. Lots of possibilities....

http://runt.ly/

Making maps online

Here is a list of map-making sites online per Larry Ferlazzo's site. Some require registration, but several do not. Scribblemaps is in here again, but I have posted on that one separately. Have fun!

http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2008/12/03/the-best-map-making-sites-on-the-web/

Classroom management Stuff!

I ran across a couple classroom management things of interest on Larry Ferazzo's website. First one is a blog with some great information, tips, and advice. Kind of long, but has some great stuff:

http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2010/05/teacher-appreciation-teachers-must.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+CoolCatTeacherBlog+(Cool+Cat+Teacher+Blog)&utm_content=Google+Reader

The 2nd thing I ran across was several people recommending the book: "What Great Teachers Do Differently: 14 Things that Matter". I have not read this book, but am interested in reading it as the amount of "experts" recommending it seems to be numerous. Enjoy!

Origami fun!

A great site for Origami. Not sure where it fits educationally, but a lot of students like to do these in their free time. It does take patience, is a great way to learn to follow directions, and takes precision. Any teacher could use this to teach some of those skills in a fun way. Enjoy!

http://en.origami-club.com//index.html

TED Talks....Can You use Them in Class?

TED Talks are something I am just learning about and starting to listen to. I just posted one by Daniel Pink. It got me thinking...are there others that teachers could use or students could listen too? Then, I came across a blog by Larry Ferlazzo with some TED Talk tools. I have listed some of these below along with a brief description of what each site does for the TED Talks.

(By the way....here is what TED Talks are: “TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader.

The annual conference now brings together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).

This site makes the best talks and performances from TED and partners available to the world, for free. More than 400 TEDTalks are now available, with more added each week. All of the talks feature closed captions in English, and many feature subtitles in various languages. These videos are released under a Creative Commons license, so they can be freely shared and reposted.”)

http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2009/12/23/the-best-ted-talks-well-really-the-ones-i-use-with-my-classes/ Ferlazzo's best TED Talks for schools/students/teachers

http://www.historyteachersattic.com/2009/06/ted-talks-demystified-for-teachers/ This site categorizes all of the TED talks into categories. Makes it easy to see which ones might work for your class. Love this site!

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pjGlYH-8AK8ffDa6o2bYlXg List of all TED talks with title, brief summary and who is giving the talk.

And for teachers, administrators, etc.... http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2009/05/top20tedtalks.html

This link is a link to the top 20 TED Talks for busy administrators. But I think teachers can be just as busy and be interested in this stuff too, so I post it for all. Enjoy!

Daniel Pink on Motivation (Video)

Came across this in several areas and thought...why not post it. A little less than 20 minutes, but good video from author Daniel Pink (author of Drive...a book apparently educators are supposed to read!). In this TED talk, he talks about motivation and how it works....and doesn't work. Touches on rewards, etc. He talks about businesses and jobs for the most part, but it works for education too.

http://video.ted.com/talks/podcast/DanielPink_2009G.mp4

Best Sites for U.S. President Info

Mainly for social studies teachers, but if you are interested in finding a lot of varied resources about U.S. Presidents quickly, this link to Larry Ferazzo's site will be a huge help. Information, pictures, videos, etc. about our U.S. Presidents. Thank you for the links Larry....hopefully it can help our social studies teachers if/when they need it.

http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2009/01/15/the-best-sites-to-learn-about-us-presidents/