Shelfari

For those of you that keep a webpage or blog, Shelfari would be a good way for you to share the books that you would like to read, are reading, or have read.  It will display the books on a virtual bookshelf.  Your visitors can then hover over the book and get some information about it.  When you click on the book it will take you to Amazon where you can of course get all the advantages of Amazon.

You could use this in your classroom by linking textbooks that you will use in your class as well as books that the students will be reading in your classes.

You can view the books that I want to read in the sidebar of my blog.  Most are History by Howard Zinn, and the other is a book about teenagers and technology, "Digital Natives."

Alphabet Photography

When trying to think of a a project for Math for students to do involving technology, it can be kind of difficult.  Now, Alphabet Photography is to fold.  One, you are studying and learning math terms, and two, you can be using the letters you find to study shapes, angles and real life applications.

Alphabet Photgraphy is taking everyday natural or man made structures to create letters.  So, take the words Algebra, Calculus, Tangent, Cosine, etc. and find structures in your town that you can use to spell those terms out.  Once your kids have done so, paste the pictures in Word and us the formatting software to create a frame and then you have your Math Terms in a creative way.  Now you can of course use this across any curriculum and subject.  It helps your students learn about their home cities, as well as create a real connection to the assignment.  Below are some samples from the website.  It might be a new way to get a poster of your name for your classroom as well if you want to order from the site.

So How could you apply this to your classroom?

- All subjects could be done using vocabulary

- It would be great for Foreign Language, because you are using American buildings to spell foreign terms.

- Famous Presidents, Artists, Authors, Scientists

- Famous Document titles, Books, Magazines

- Do your students names as an icebreaker activity

Basically use the site as a guide for ideas, and then use your home town to find and create your own.

My Brochure Maker

In education, I can think of a few times I or other teachers have had students create a brochure as part of a project.  Students could use Word or Publisher, but if they did not have them at home, then you were required to use class time to complete the project.  My Brochure Maker helps to solve that problem.  What makes this so great?  No sign up needed.  Just go to the URL, click on Get Started and you are on your way to creating a prochure.

You then have three options - Brochure with a Mailing Label, Brochure Without a Mailing Label, or a Flyer.  Each of those options then has a general theme that you can choose from.  Most will not match your topic, some might.  If they don't, no problem.  You can easily alter the pictures and titles to match what you are trying to achieve.  The software itself is fairly easy to use, at least much more user friendly than Publisher and Word.  Try it out for yourself.  It even gives you instructions for printing your brochure, making it easier to ensure you get the right direction when you go front and back.

Embedr

For those people who are bloggers and run a website, Embedr is a very easy and rather fast software you can use to create your own video player that you can insert your favorite videos from Youtube, Teachertube, Schooltube, etc.  I have created one both in this blog, as well as on the main page of the Wiki I have created in the hope of uploading videos that students and teachers create that we want to share with other educators.

It makes sharing videos easy.  Once you save a playlist, you can easily go back and edit it, get the new embed coade and easily upload it to your website or blog.

You could even create different players for different subjects....which brings me to classroom use.  If you have students constently creating video, this would be a great way to organize them.  You don't have to embed them to use them.  They are still in a playlist on the website for you to play and watch when the time is necessary.  It would also be of use to create a website to showcase student videos. 

So as you can see, the software is not just for use with a blog or website, you can easily use it in a classroom as well.

The People Speak

Normally I try to post links and resources that I think will be useful in all subject matters, but as I posted on Twitter last night, I got to watching The People Speak on the History Channel.  What a great 2 hours that I spent on TV.  Real people reading real diairies of people who sought Change for American Democracy.  The purpose...that "Democracy is not a Spectator Sport." 

So in reality, maybe the site is for everyone who visits, because whether you live in a country who practices democracy, or in a country fighting for democracy, it is good to see that America had its trials and tribulations moving towards being an example of democracy for everyone.

The website offers curriculum guides for High School and College students, as well as video clips of some of the actors monologues.  Here is a video introduction about what The People Speak is.

Whether you teach Government or History or not, I highly recommend you viewing this history of America...told in a new way.