Upgrading to the 21st century
Links to Explore (despite categories, all could be used in various subjects)
21st Century Resource Goldmines:
curriculum21
Buck Institute of Education
Route 21
Edutopia
Tech Integration Matrix (tons of ideas here)
BAM Radio - excellent selection of education related podcasts
Math and Science:
Gapminder - great animated visual data, excellent for math integration, a must look (check out the button for "Open Graph Menu")
BBC- The World at 7 billion- great data driven site exploring the topic of over-population, involves kids on a personal level
Google Sketch-Up- Create 3D models on anything! From skyscrapers to coffee pots, you and your students can create solutions.
Learn Zillion- great common core math lessons with instructional videos. Sort of like Khan Academy, but geared toward The Core. Also has ELA.
The First Measured Century- This PBS resource has a variety of graphs that show how the U.S. changed from 1900 to 2000.
Literacy:
www.wordle.net -creates word clouds, a must look
www.wordhippo.com- helps students find similar, opposite, and rhyming words
www.visualthesaurus.com
www.vocabulary.com
www.googlelittrips.org - follow famous lit characters on a Google Earth map, interactive
http://books.google.com/ngrams- research, search keywords, word history
Quizlet- excellent for vocab activities and provides game based learning opportunities
Social Studies:
IfItWereMyHome.com- comparison tool to compare living conditions in your own country to those of another
TeachUNICEF.org- amazing resources for teaching child rights.
iCivics- The most comprehensive, standards-aligned civics curriculum, that includes over 16 simulation based video games as well as lessons.
SSChat- The network dedicated to connecting social studies teachers everywhere. Check out the "tools" group.
Art and more:
www.googleartproject.com/ - can take virtual tours of famous museums
www.taggalaxy.com creates a globe of images related to tag (could upload pictures with tags in flickr, then have students look)
Projects:
www.museumbox.e2bn.org – students create online museums (idea: use for a book and have one box for setting, characters, plot etc.)
www.voicethread.com –students can give feedback, read aloud the work
www.edcanvas.com- (aka blendspace) a place to organize work in a very visual way with links and a sequencing. Also good for creating units.
Google Connected Classroom – Great way to connect with fellow educators and then you can connect your students globally.
Scratch- Great coding tool for stories, games, etc. (visual programming)
Makey Makey- Alligator clip the Internet to Your World.
Research:
www.instagrok.com- Learn about any topic by exploring connections between concepts/facts on an interactive concept map, which you can customize and share! Great with ELL/ESL students.
Diigo- Online bookmarking with networking capacity. I can't imagine not having it.
BrainPop- a bit of everything in animated mini-videos, now includes a simulation game section called "Game-Up"
Google+ (checkout the hangout feature, has a lot of collaborative options, including a drawing option)
*I am looking for good student friendly search engines. Please contact me if you have suggestions.
Tools:
Kahoot - game-based learning activities using devices
www.todaysmeet.com- for having an online place that everyone adds to
www.polleverywhere.com - set up back channel communication for classes and events
www.yola.com and www.weebly.com – free website building that is easy to use
Edmodo- like facebook, but secure for you and your learning community
Socrative- online assessment tool (great for formative assessment)
osalt.com- great for finding open source software alternatives
ManicTime- See which applications you use the most or on which web sites you spend the most time. Great for students reflecting on digital balance.
Creative Commons- allows you to set the sharing rights on your work, allows you to find openly shared resources
ZoomIt- allows you to seemly zoom in on your screen so that your audience knows where to focus
Professional Development:
Learning Creative Learning- a free online course from MIT, very interesting materials
Tablet Apps: (more coming soon)
Explain Everything
Puppet Pals
I can’t imagine not having these in my toolbox:
Google Apps
Moodle
Dropbox