Weekly Core Subjects Resources - English

Since I took a substantial vacation from writing on the blog, my Weekly Core Subjects Resources post for this week will be broken down into each subject since I got so many resources over the past 3 weeks.  So here is the first entry for 2011 and let me begin with English.

1.)  FutureMe.org is a simple website designed for students to write a letter to their future self.  They use an email address and choose a date that they would like to receive an email.  This would be an interesting journal entry for your students. 

2.) OhLife is a site for people to write journal entries via email when it sends you a question "How did your day go?"  As you start to use the site, it will include a previous journal entry to help you "Remember when?"  Pretty cool and a great method for students to keep a journal.  Signing up is simple and free.

3.) Writing Fun is a site that contains online graphic organizers that teachers can use with students to help make writing fun.  It provides various examples as well.  Teachers can then use these ideas to create their own graphic organizers.

4.) MyVocabulary.com is a site to learn vocabulary.  They have various games and puzzles to help learn vocabulary.  There is also a section for test prep as well.

5.) FoldingStory is a site for group storytelling.  Think of it as writing version of the old game of telephone we all used to play, but the purpose is to add to the story, not try and remember it all.  You can create your own, add to one, or read previously submitted stories.  This would be a fun activity for students to participate in for a classroom assignment.

6.) After the Deadline is a site to help students polish their writing.  Think of it as an online spelling, style, and grammar checker.  It is very easy to use and is as simple and copying and pasting your text. 

7.) The Luminarium is an anthology of English Literature.  What a great resource for English teachers to share and use with students.  The information is broken down into four time periods: Medieval, Renaissance, 17th Century, and Restoration. 

8.) Here are some great resources from the Blog I follow; Technology: Figuring Out How the Pieces Fit.  The resources are about how Technology Can Help With Reading

Here are this weeks entries for Math, Science, and Social Studies if you are interested.

My Top 10 EdTech Resources of 2010

I present what I consider to be the top 10 Tools/Websites/Resources for teachers and students from 2010.  These are in no particular order because I believe they are all great, but for different reasons.  They might have been around before 2010, but were an important addition to education this past year.

1.) Glogster
A resource that allows students to use creativity and several other tools to share knowledge with fellow students through the creation of a digital poster.  The incorporation of organizing the Glogs by categories for students and teachers to search through was a great addition to an already outstanding product.  To see my previous posts about Glogster, CLICK HERE.

2.)  Diigo has been one of my most favorite tools to use this year.  With so many websites out there that teachers can use with their students, it is important to organize them in a fashion that is easy to use and find.  I always suggest to teachers that they use it by creating list separated by the different units that they teach, then when it is time to plan a lesson they can find the resources.  I also suggest tags based on vocabulary as well.  Diigo is not just a site for saving websites, it is also a great site to network with other educators who are saving and sharing resources. 

3.) Skype was a resource that I always knew about, but never really got into until this year.  I created an account initially to be able to talk with distant family and for them to see my children.  I then realized the educational benefits as I started seeing it being used at conferences and reading about it being used in the classroom.  Then, this year, I had the privilege of setting up Skype for a teacher to continue to teach her class while she was home with a broken foot.  She was able to keep her AP classes on track.  It was a great experience.  CLICK HERE for other posts about Skype.

4.) SimpleBooklet.com is a site that was a fairly new product that came out during the end of this year, and is an easy way for students to publish a booklet for projects.  You can read a PREVIOUS POST about SimpleBooklet.com to learn more about it if this is the first you have heard of it.  I highly recommend it for student projects. 

5.) Personally, Prezi has been one of my favorite tools to use for presentations.  I enjoy the ease of embedding YouTube videos as well as the ability to zoom in and out which allows more focus on important aspects of a presentation.  CLICK HERE for several of my previous posts where I discuss using Prezi as an alternative to PowerPoint. 

6.) Creaza is an all in one web resource that allows you to create Mind Maps, Comics, and edit Audio and Video.  When using this site for the first time I found it easy to use and efficient at meeting my needs.  The audio and video editing tools are very simple to use and are an adequate tool to create digital stories.  You can see my PREVIOUS POST for more information. 

7.) Common Craft Videos have been a great addition to my own understanding of several web 2.0 tools.  What is also great about their videos is they have several related to Money, Society, and Going Green.  I highly recommend viewing them if you are a social studies teacher.  I also came across a great blog post where the teacher shared how he had his students create their own version of Common Craft videos.  What a great idea.  You can read my PREVIOUS POST about Common Craft to learn more. 

8.) fotobabble is a site that I think is really interesting because it allows for the user to create talking photos.  It would be a great way for students to present information about a person, place, thing, or event.  I great tool for geography teachers as well to play "Where am I Game."  Here is a great blog post where a teacher discusses how to use it integrating another one of my favorite sites, Wallwisher.  There is also an app for iPhones as well for easily recording over photos.

9.) As mentioned above, Wallwisher has been one of my favorite sites to use with teachers.  I have seen it used in various ways in the classroom with students as well.  You can easily embed it into a website for students to access, or create a link for students to discuss a multitude of topics.  The great thing about Wallwisher is how easy it is to use and setup an account.  You can see my PREVIOUS POST for more ways to use Wallwisher in the classroom.

10.) ToonDoo has been a great addition to the classroom for many teachers.  It makes creating comic strips very simple with a drag and drop interface.  You can upload your own photos as well and add in dialogue.  You can also create a book of comics to create a storyline.  See my PREVIOUS POSTS for more comic sites and ways to use them in the classroom.

BONUS - Twitter.  Well, because you should just use it.  Just read all my PREVIOUS POSTS to find out why.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Top Ten Posts of 2010

This will most  likely be the last post of 2010 as my wife and I are expecting our second child this week and I will be taking a leave of absence from blogging for a while to concentrate on family.  Please enjoy a look back down The Pursuit of Technology Integration Happiness memory lane!

From oldest to newest:

1.) Do You Tweet?  As An Educator...You Should - This was my first real post on my use of Twitter as an educator and how it truly has improved my own professional development.

2.) Friday Focus #4 - Blogs You Should Focus Your Attention On - Another beginning phase of my own professional development was my Google Reader and reading blogs.  Here is where I share several of my favorites. 

3.) The Power of T.W.I.T.T.E.R. - This was a post where I shared my acronym for Twitter that I created when I woke up one morning and everyone was sharing there own.  Mine received a lot of praise, so I shared it here. 

4.) Think Twice Thursday #4 - Cartoons and Comic Creation - A great list of the several web 2.0 sites for creating comics and cartoons and ways to use them in the classroom.

5.) Web 2.0 Teacher Tools Glog - I created this glog to share with teachers in a professional development and shared it in a post for my readers. 

6.) Must See Monday - Tools for the 21st Century Teacher - My first digital publication. 

7.) Common Misconceptions of Educational Technology Integration Recap - My 8 posts about the misconceptions that educators and people have about integrating technology in the classroom.

8.) 7 Technology Alternatives to the Standard Homework Assignment - I created this list on a whim one day and then proceeded to make it a presentation for TeachMeet Kentucky.

9.) Doing a Flip Across the Curriculum - 10 Ways to use a FLIP Camera in the classroom for various subject matter.

10.) 10 Ways to Use iTunes/Podcast in the Classroom - iTunes is probably the most powerful software that teachers could utilize but do not know how.

And in case you missed it, a recap of my 10 Tips/Ways Series.

Haven't subscribed to my blog yet?  Click here for my RSS Feed.

10 Tips/Ways Blog Posts Recap

I unintentionally intended to write some "10 Tips/Ways" posts and before I knew it, I just kept going.  With that, I ended up writing 11 blog posts that contain "10 tips" related to educational technology and various websites.  So, in case you missed them, here they are:

1.) 10 Ways to use iTunes/Podcast in the Classroom
2.) 10 Specific Ways to Use a Document Camera
3.) 10 Tips for Getting Teachers to Integrate Technology
4.) 10 Tips for Alternative Professional Development
5.) 10 Tips for Using SMS in the Classroom
6.) 10 Tips for Alternatives to PowerPoint
7.) 10 Tips for Using Google Reader in the Classroom
8.) 10 Tips for Using YouTube in the Classroom
9.) 10 Tips for Using Facebook in the Classroom
10.) 10 Tips for Starting an Education Blog
11.) 10 Tips/Ways for Using Twitter in the Classroom

Spend some time reading and thinking about these during the holiday break.  Go back to school inspired to try something different in your classroom and with your students.

As a bonus during a snow day, I wrote the following post, Who Says Having a Snow Means Not Having Class, which contains 10 ideas as well.

Weekly Core Subjects Resources

Christmas season is upon us.  This will be the last Weekly Core Subject Resources post of 2010.  The next post will be in 2011 and it might be a few weeks in as my wife and I are expecting and I will take a leave of absence and not post as often.  What that means is that the next Weekly Core Subject Resources post will contain tons of resources.  Happy Holidays to those that celebrate them and enjoy your break if you are having one!

English
1.) Copia is a social network for eBooks.  Think of it as a digital book club.  I wrote a previous post about it and thought that I should share it here. 

2.) Magnetic Poetry is a fun way to "write."  This site allows you to create magnetic poetry and words are available based on subject matter.  You can also read other magnetic poetry which is divided into categories as well. 

Mathematics
1.) Algebra.help is a site that has calculators, lessons, and worksheets to help students learn algebra.  Each section is divided into different subject matter that is taught in math classrooms.

2.) Bridgeport Mathematics Department is a website from the Bridgeport school district.  You can find several resources that are divided by subject matter.  There is also homework helper and other links that students and teachers would be interested in checking out.

3.) Create a Graph is a site from the National Center for Education Statistics.  You can choose between bar, line, area, pie, and XY.  Very simple to use.  It does require Flash.

4.) Here is a blog post that shares how to write equations in Google Docs.  I don't use Google Docs, but if you do, this might be a helpful resource. 

Science
1.) Physics Math is a combination of a math and science site that offers visitors assistance in understanding formulas and equations related to science.  There are also several other resources for Physics on the homepage.

2.) Another Physics site, The Physics Classroom offers tutorials, multimedia, and other resources for teaching physics. 

3.) The European Space Agency has a great website for learning about Earth-Space Science.  It is basically an online journal for information. 

4.) Nature by Numbers is a video that is inspired by numbers, geometry, and nature using the Fibonacci sequence.  You can also find some other information and resources about the film. 

5.) OLogy is a site for learning about biodiversity from the American Museum of Natural History.  You choose an "ology" and it will provide information and resources for each one. 

6.) Science Fix is a blog where a teacher films science experiments and explains what processes are happening in the video. 

7.) From Mashable, 10 Free Online Resources for Science Teachers.  Several of these I have never seen before and am intrigued by them.

8.) Planet Hunters is a site to learn about stars and planets.  It is an interactive site and seems really interesting, but my knowledge on space is minimal at best, so I am struggling with understanding it.  If you teach science, this is probably one to check out. 

9.) Symphony of Science is a site that takes lectures and other science videos and adds music and other audio to turn the words into songs.  It is kind of interesting.  I would check out the site to just see what I am talking about. 

10.) Google Body Browser is like Google Earth for the human body.  It uses software already on web browsers, so it does not require any add-on, java, or flash to work.  Really a great asset for teaching anatomy. 

11.) Game for Science is a site providing a virtual world devoted to science, technology and free educational games online. 

Social Studies
1.) The Civil War Interactive Timeline is from the New York Times.  If you teach this unit, it is worth checking out. 

2.) Country Studies is a site that provides data for over 100 countries in the world.  The data available depends on the country.  For example, there is a lot more for Afghanistan then there is for the British Virgin Islands.

3.) The dMarie Time Capsule is another site that offers you the ability to type in a date and see historical events that happened.  Could be a great site to use to start a class each day. 

4.) Project Explorer is a site I just recently wrote a post about, so you can click here for more information. 

5.) Gapminder is a data exploration site that allows users to see how data changes over time and changes based on major events in history as well.  I really enjoy this site.

Find something useful?  If not, check out my previous Weekly Core Subjects Resources Posts

You might also be interested in my publications to learn about various Web 2.0 Tools to use in the classroom.

If you are visiting this blog for the first time and would like to subscribe to the RSS Feed you can do that here.  To learn about RSS Feed and Google Reader, watch this great RSS in Plain English video