VuSafe, Another Safe Youtube Alternative

VuSafe appears to be another great Youtube video showing tool that is much safer and much less distracting. This site allows you to show a Youtube video in the event that Youtube is blocked. But it also cuts out the ads, the comments, and all the other junk that surrounds a typical Youtube video. And once you are signed up, you can save your videos to your VuSafe account and list appropriate age ranges and other information about each video. Students could view videos under your account as well. I haven't tried the site out, but I like the idea that it saves your videos and keeps them in one account. Enjoy!

VuSafe site.

Qwiki Just Beginning.....

I was alerted about a new site from Richard Byrne of Free Technology for Teachers (Thank you Mr. Byrne!) called "Qwiki". It is similar to Wikipedia, but it is interactive and gives a visual/audio presentation of the information you want. This site seems to have lots of potential and they are just beginning and testing it now. This might be a great place to start your own research on a topic you are going to teach or a great place for students to start their research, especially for struggling readers (since the information is read to the students). I have a couple links below to help you figure out what this site actually is. Enjoy!

What is Qwiki?

Actual Qwiki site.

Quick Access to Any Newspaper in the World!

One of the cooler sites I have seen in some time and it just shows how amazing the internet (and Google) truly is and how many doors it opens in education. Newspaper Map is a Google map site that has thousands of newspapers from around the world all in one place. You just find the pinpoint on the map that you want to read and click it. Maybe it is the Des Moines Register, maybe its the NY Times, maybe its simply the Creston or Fort Dodge paper. They are all here. What if you want to read a paper from Iran, Russia, or China? Simple, click on it and translate it (thanks again Google for translating the paper for us!) and now your students are reading the daily newspaper from another country. If something big happens in the world, you can now go read about it. If something big happens in the U.S., you can now read about what the other countries say about it. Fascinating and great for every teacher, but especially a social studies teacher! Give it a try!

Newspaper Map found here!

Another Site Where You Can Make "Fake Facebook Walls" for an Assignment

I posted awhile back about a site where you could make a fake Facebook wall for an historical figure, a book character, or even a current person that a student needs to prove they know some things about. By doing a Facebook page, students can have fun and use a platform they know all while showing they know the topic or subject as well. I like this site/tool better and it looks more real. I suggest you try making a few before you have students do their own. I also suggest that you look at some of the "favorites" on the home page. Those are really good. I could see our students really having some fun with these after reading a book or when they are assigned a famous historical person to do a report about.

Fake Wall website here!

Voki for Educators

I'll be honest, I'm not sure of all of the educational applications with this site, but I did make an Avatar and created a Voki that is now on my Counseling blog site. The Voki website has lots of suggestions on how to use in education and I like the idea of students speaking through a microphone and practicing their speech this way. As for me, I plan to update my Voki Avatar often to give parents some verbal information right along with my typed information on my blog. After that, I am not sure, so I will let educators explore and see what they can come up with.

Voki site to make an Avatar (mine just has text speech right now....I didn't record my voice yet)

Do you want to see my Avatar? Go to my Counseling blog site and click on his "play" button.

ScreenShot Tool That is Easy to Use!

Another cool, simple tool that goes right into your tool bar is "Awesome Screenshot". I just used it and found it easy to use and it can be used for various reasons. The only issue I see is that I think you can't use the tool with Internet Explorer. You can view other screen shots that people have made, but you can't make your own if you are using Internet Explorer. I use Google Chrome anyway, so it did not matter, but I know many teachers still use the pre-loaded Internet Explorer. I have placed a link below for a Screenshot that I made. You could try making screenshots for your class as well as a way to show students where to go on a website or what to click.

My Screenshot is here!

How to download it and put it in your toolbar as a tool.

More Khan Academy Ideas!

Thanks to the Journey in Technology Blog, here are ten more ideas on how you can use the Khan Academy website, quite possibly one of the best sites in all of education. From using it as extra practice, to sub day lesson plans, to differentiation, the Khan Academy FREE lessons can be used a variety of ways. And you can even get to it even if Youtube happens to be blocked! If you teach math or science, or even some other subjects, and you haven't used the Khan Academy for your students (or even you as it is great to learn how to teach certain concepts), start doing it today and start by reading the blog post linked below!

Click here to read the blog: What Khan be Done With It?