Welcome back

Hi gang! Sorry I have been away this school yeah has been a bumpy one. I recently took over co-advisor for the senior class, so I've been busy!


Check back in a few days for an all new entry!

Hello

Hello to my friends up North at the "Free Tools for Instruction with a Focus on Assessment"!  I hope you enjoy my blog.  This past year has been a challenge for me taking over the Middle and High school yearbook, so you will notice in the lack of postings this year.  Please don't be discouraged, I plan to make up for it this summer.

Also check out my Twitter account @mrplace21

Happy Tech Camp!

~Tom

Glossary of Instructional Strategies

Do you know what 10 + 2 is?  Or perhaps what Applied Imagination is?  Well this wonderful sight breaks down from A-Z Instructional Strategies that you can use in your classroom.  Each strategy comes with a full detailed example on how it works.

Check out the site here.  Try some of these next year in your classroom!

History Pin

Here's a cool web 2.0 tool that helps you compare the past with the present.  It's called History Pin.  Subjects include History, Modern Art, Science, and Technology.  It's really interesting.  Take a view of the video below and check out this awesome site.  You do not need a log in to be able to view it.

You also get the chance to view pictures of old times with up to date real time images using Google Earth.  Imagine starting a debate in your classroom of what Germany looked like in WWII versus what it looks like now, or maybe what it looked like before the Western United States was settled.  You can control the time period in your search as well.  Check out History pin here!

Help vote for my grant!

Hello everyone,

I signed up for a grant at We Are Teachers.  If I have the top number of votes my idea will win.  What I am asking is for you to just take two seconds and click this link and along the side there will be a little box that says vote for me.  If you do this I will be one step closer towards my goal of introducing video announcements in the Middle High school.  

The link is http://bit.ly/ifQDYu

Please help support a good cause.  It costs nothing to you except a few seconds of your time.

Thank you very much!

~Tom

PS If you have more than one e-mail account you can vote twice ;-)

Explaining in Plain English

Do you ever have a topic that your students or perhaps other faculty members just don't seem to get?  Common Craft Productions take these issues and explain it in plain English!

According to the Common Craft Website their overview state: "Our videos may surprise you. They're short and simple. They use paper cut-outs. They cover subjects "in Plain English." But lurking under the simple surface are lessons that have been crafted with great care. Despite our fun and lighthearted style, we take explanation seriously."

You can watch their videos, in-full, on their site, or you can purchase them to use in your classroom, and other uses.  The individual license is $20 per video to use in your classroom.  They do offer school discounts by contacting them.  This link here is the overview on how to buy.

I am not going to embed any videos here, but instead send you over to their site so you can take a look at everything they offer.  Click here to view their site.

 

They do offer custom videos that you can create with them.  They are available for a limited number of custom videos.  Here's a few examples of custom explanation videos here.  The projects include

• Short videos in the paper work style
• original script, artwork, and creative direction
• Voice-over by one of the company owners

Click here to view more information on this topic.

CSI: The Experience!

Everyone seems to think that games do not belong in education, but the truth is kids learn better from playing these types of games.  Rice University partnered with the Forth Worth Museum of Science and History, the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, and CBS, with funding from the National Science Foundation, to create CSI: The Experience!.  This is an online web program that introduces middle school students to the world of forensic science.

The game is free to register and you can play as a guest.  It gives you step by step instructions by characters from the CSI TV show!


Take a look and here's too solving the mystery!

Live Binders

Are you getting weighted down by the tons and tons of papers on resources you collect from the Internet?  Is creating a Wiki too far out of your reach to try and organize these resources?  Well let me introduce a wonderful web 2.0 tool called Live Binders. 

This is another way to manage your links, but it goes beyond that.  Some of you might be thinking well isn't that like diigo or delicious?  Yes, it is similar, but with Live Binders you can access the pages in live time.  So you can see them instantly. 

Click below to see the short 90 second over view of what live binders is all about.  They do a great job explaining it.

So where can we see some examples of Live Binders?  Sure I have them for you.  Click the links below to see some.

An Educators Guide to Twitter
iPads in Schools
Social Justice Live!
Educational Websites

You can also surf and search their site for other public binders that people have shared.

Enjoy!

**NOTE this does require you to sign up for an account and I cannot guarantee if they share your information with others. **

Searching The Web

So in the efforts to teach my students about information literacy and how to properly use " ", or, and, etc. in Google I came across a few resources.  The first is an amazing Prezi on Google Search Tricks by Tony Vincent.

Google Search Tricks on Prezi

I am certainly going to be showing my 6th graders and High school students this.   The next resource I stumbled upon is the Google Help page on Exploring Google Search.  Here users can look at the various searching tools.  Here's a preview of what you can search for.

When you click on any of the "hot links" listed above you will be taken to little search boxes with mini web browsers next to it.  This will show you a real life example on how you can modify/use the search feature.

This can easily be added to a curriculum to help students successfully search on Google.

It's not squared it's cubed!!!

Do you have multiple Youtube videos that you want to use, but don't want to have to click over and over to find them?  Are you looking for a way to show your Youtube videos on your website, blog, or other social media site in a way that is creative and interesting for people to see?

This new web 2.0 application is called YouCube.  It gives you a 3D cube in which you can add 6 Youtube URL video's that you can twirl through to view. 

This is what the "cube" looks like.  You can add your 6 videos at the left hand side of the screen.  Below is a picture of what that URL add lines look like.

Once you have your videos in you can play and view one movie at a time.  It's a neat little program that helps organize videos.  Check it out some time when you want to be a little more creative.  Also you can view other people's "cubes".

Enjoy!  The link is found here.

Update

So please be advised if you click on the Who Wants to be a Millionaire game library in the Smart Teacher Tools post below, you will see some inappropriate things.  That's the one down fall with free subject matter, some times people take advantage of it and spam the site. 

So please be advised.  I have already contacted their editors and hopefully they will get this fixed.

JACKPOT

So I was exploring the many blogs that I follow and I came across this WONDERFUL site that I knew HAD to be shared with all of you!

The website is called Super Teacher Tools and it is by far one of the best site's I've found.

They have a ton of free flash programs you can download, fill in your information, and start using!

Everyone is always asking where's the best place to find a Jeopardy game.  They have an amazing flash interactive game you can use right on the web.  They also have a feature that you can download it and use when ever!

Not only do they have fun review games, but they have teacher tools as well.  Their help menu guides you step-by-step on how to set up all these wonderful tools.

For a few of their products please click the following pictures.  To see their whole site click here.  Everything on this site is free.  If you like what you see and can give them a little donation to help keep these wonderful tools and resources available to everyone!

1/11/11 AMAZING

IT'S OFFICIAL!!!!!!

AMAZING!

Free Field trip Day #2

Are you studying art or maybe religion in History class?  Well how about a trip to the Vatican Museums?  The online resource brings the best the museum has to offer.  Click here to visit.

(picture courtesy of www.makeuseof.com)

You will find on their site paintings, sculptures, and the most precious artifacts around.  You can even watch videos on how they restore these pieces.  This is another site you will need Adobe Flash Player.  Please take a look and let me know how it goes! 

Online Field Trips

Sorry for the delay in any new content.  Since taking over the yearbook at school it has consumed a majority of my life.  I have some new things you all might be interested in.  We all know how budgets are getting tighter and schools are less likely able to take field trips.  I have been exploring multiple options on how to compensate for this in a more reasonable way.  Each day this week will be a different free field trip you can take your students on.  Today we will feature two!

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The first museum on our trip is the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.  Here you can take a virtual, self-guided tour in which you set your pace to go room-by-room of the whole museum.

 (picture courtesy of www.makeuseof.com)

How awesome is that!!!  Students can sit back at their own pace a learn about all the great things this museum has to offer, and just think NO CROWDS!!!!  Your computer lab will have to have Adobe Flash Player version 9.0.28 or later.  You can click here to get adobe flash player.

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Our second stop we will hop a flight to Europe to take a look at the Virtual Museum.  This museum incorporates artifacts from several different museums brought to you through digital environments and 3-D images.  This gives you the most realistic experience you can get from a virtual environment. 

(picture courtesy of www.makeuseof.com)

You can view the images chronologically, or by, area, museums, routes, itineraries, or objects.  It's a great way for students to experience that special artifact you are talking about in your class or presentation.  Go a head check it out!!! 

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Check them out and please let  me know how they work for your class!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone and I hope you have a great 2011!