SimpleBooklet.com

SimpleBooklet.com is a site that allows user to create easy to read and use booklets.  All the features can be inserted using simple drag and drop features and can then be shared in several different ways.  They can also be embedded onto a web page.  These would be a great tool to use for students and teachers to advertise their club, athletic team, or even the school.  A lot of schools create information brochures to share with new students, this would be a potential option to do that digitally.

What is really great, is that the site requires no sign up.  Visit SimpleBooklet.com and click the create button to get started.  If you choose to sign up you get to save your work.  The negative of the free account will be the advertising.  You can choose from various backgrounds and styles.  They can be any size that you need.  You can embed video, audio, and links within your Simple Booklet.

These make great digital advertisements, but can be used in various ways in the classroom.  Have students create booklets that explain math problems, or tell about a historical figure.  Students could also create one explaining the steps and results of a science experiments.  English teachers could have students create booklets about the books that they read in class.  Foreign language students could create booklets in the language they are studying.  Geography students could create booklets about countries.  The ideas are endless.  SimpleBooklet.com provides another digital tool for students to create using content from your class.

Plagiarism Checker

A free Plagiarism Checker can be of great service to students and teachers.  PlagiarismChecker.com is another option that uses Google Search for you.  It is as simple as pasting your text into a text box and it will search for similar wording on Google.  The site has a specific link for teachers to get assistance using the software with student work and how it can benefit you.  Remember, it is only doing an Internet search though.

If you find yourself really needing to find cheaters you can even sign up for a Google Alert and you will receive an email from Google whenever the text appears somewhere on the Internet.  You can click on the preferences to setup an email account for the Google Alerts. 

There are some other options on the page.  You can insert a web page URL and check it for plagiarism as well, but this aspect is still a work in progress.  There are also several handouts you can use to assist you with using PlagiarismChecker.com and find information about plagiarism in general.  The site also provides an area for authors to report plagiarism for those that are publishers.

Quotista

Quotista is a site that provides quotes submitted by visitors.  It could be described as a Social Quote Site because you can share and follow quotes with other members.  It encourages sharing your favorite quotes from books as well.  You can see popular and latest quotes without signing up for an account.  There currently is no way to search for quotes and the only way to sign up is using your Facebook account, which means providing your information to Quotista.

You can find quotes in foreign languages as well, in fact, you can find a lot, so it would be a neat way for students in those classes to translate quotes.  Just make sure they are appropriate of course.  I would sometimes provide quotes in my classroom for students to write their thoughts on and as motivation for achievement.

I am not a fan of using Facebook to sign up for sites.  You might not care and could get more use out Quotista, so I thought I would share it.

Removal of a Blog Post

I recently, as in yesterday, did a blog post about the website iVoted.com.  I have removed that post after being contacted on Twitter by one of the co-founders of Poll Everywhere.  He respectfully pointed out the blatant copying and plagiarism of the Poll Everywhere content.  Even the plans were eerily similar, not to mention format and several other things.  I am not one for supporting copied content.  The only difference between the software that I noticed was the ability to post responses to polls on Twitter.

I know that there are several other sites out there that have similar concepts, but the similarities between these two sites is scary.  My initial thought was that maybe iVoted.com was the work of Poll Everywhere and they were wanting a different server, but I was informed that was not the case.  I felt it was only appropriate to remove my blog post.

This incident once again shows the power of Twitter.  I would not have known that Poll Everywhere was upset by this copying of material if the co-founder had not contacted me.  Please be aware of this situation and support Poll Everywhere.

Weekly Core Subject Resources

Whew, what a week.  My district is moving forward with the creation of a district Facebook and Twitter page with the purpose of sharing positive news about our students, teachers, and schools.  It is not live yet, as we meet to work out some of the finer points, but I am excited to be a part of our district taking this step.

Throughout this past week I have come across numerous resources for Math, Science, Social Studies, and English.  Instead of sharing just one or two, I want to share all that I have found.  It was a slow week for Math, but not for the other subjects.  Hopefully you can take some back to the teachers in your school or district.

Mathematics
1.) Mathademics is a YouTube Channel that provides videos for several different content areas in mathematics.  From simple multiplication to Algorithms.  This would be a useful site to share a concept before you might be teaching it. 

Science

1.) Everyday Mysteries is an interesting site for learning about fun science facts.  How does stuff work?  Why does this happen?  This site aims to answers several of life's most interesting questions.

2.) From another one of those Online Degree websites, here are 20 Podcasts for Science Lovers.  I really think that Podcast and iTunes will be a future staple in the classroom.  For more ideas, you can see a post I did for 10 Ways to Use iTunes in the Classroom

3.) Online Labs is a site for Science Teachers to find science simulations for Biology, Chemistry, and Physics, among other science subjects.  The site has a huge list to search through, so spend some time finding something you might be able to use for subject matter you will be teaching soon.

4.) Anatomy Corner is a site dedicated to resources for teachers and students that focuses on Human Anatomy.  Information is broken down by subject matter as well as several galleries. 

5.) Impact Earth is a simulation created by Purdue University that allows students and teachers to predict the impact of a asteroid hitting the earth.  You can choose the size, density, velocity, angle, location of impact, and distance from impact.  The simulation will then provide data to help determine the extent of the damage.  What a fun site for Earth Space Science. 

6.) Science Daily is an online magazine/newspaper that has tons of articles, images, videos, and resources that can be used by teachers and students in the classroom.  You can search the site by various subject matter and find some great documents to use in the classroom. 

Social Studies (Several of these resources came from Free Technology for Teachers.)

1.) iCivics is a site dedicated to teaching civics.  They have tons of resources, interactives, and simulations to learn about American Government.  There are also several games that students can play to learn about supreme court cases, the branches of government, and citizenship.  There is also a dedicated page for teachers. 

2.) 60 Years of Tension is a site dedicated to learning about the Korean War and its aftermath.  I never really got to teach this era of U.S. History, but this site offers tons of useful information worth examining. 

3.) Teaching American History offers tons of resources and primary documents for teachers to use when teaching American History.  There is also a section dedicated to lesson plans for teachers to use in the classroom.  You can search for documents based on time period as well.  You can also find audio of lectures and information on summer institutes for educators.

4.) TargetMap is a site that allows user to create their very own data maps.  This site could be very useful for teachers who want kids to graph their own data for a research project.  I always had my kids do different activities with maps, but this site would take those activities to a whole new level and allow them to easily graph data that they research and create professional looking maps.  You will need to create an account to use this service.

5.) Show World is a site dedicated to showing statistics and data for countries around the world in a unique way.  When you choose a data set, the countries change size to represent the amount of data that you are looking for.  It is a neat perspective on information for world statistical data. 

6.) Mapeas is a site dedicated to showing recent news in a whole new way.  You view the entire world.  For every number in a circle you see are the number of news stories in that area of the country.  The news stories are then broken down into Sports, Entertainment, Business, Science, and General.  Be a great way to introduce students to current events. 

7.) Rag Linen is a site dedicated to an online museum of the 25 first American newspapers.  For these newspapers you can find various resources to use in the classroom.  These would make great primary documents in the U.S. History classroom.

8.) Cambridge Brain Sciences would be a great resource for Psychology teachers.  The site offers quizzes for students to take to learn about the cognitive and memory abilities of their brain.  The results provide valuable information to students about how they learn and why they might learn the way they do. 

English

 1.) Digital Is is an aspect of the National Writing Project.  The website is a collection of ideas, reflections, and stories about what it means to teach writing in our digitally connected world.  Highly recommend sharing with teachers so they can see the changes taking place as it related to writing for students.

2.) Road To Grammar is a site that offers quizzes that students can take to improve their grammar skills.  There are also several games and downloads that students can access as well.  A very promising site for ESL and ELL students.

3.) The Online Books Page is exactly what it sounds like.  It is a site from the University of Pennsylvania that contains hundreds of free books online.  You can search by Author, Subject, Title, and Serial Number.  There are over 800,000 books listed on this website.  Well worth checking out.

4.) Blio is a free eReader that you can download.  It has access to over 1 million free books online as well as books that you can purchase.  It has finely gone live since the last time I did a Blog Post about Blio eReader back in February of 2010.  Well worth looking at if you think you might enjoy reading books on your laptop.