Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Odiogo- Convert Text to Speech Podcasts!

Turn your text into audio broadcasts! Your text entries can instantly turn into high-quality audio, creating a platfom accessible to all audiences.  All of my posts are now "human-like" recordings that can be downloaded onto your iPod and MP3 players.



Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Use Voicethread to Give your Students a Voice!

Are you looking for a place where your students can upload their digital stories and multimedia content for collaboration and feedback? Use Voicethread, a secure place where one can collaborate and share valuable content like digital stories, screencasts, videos, and multimedia presentations.  Using this tool enables you to narrate your stories and invite others to provide feedback via text, video and audio comments. As a person who provides commentary, you can provide annotation as well. You can also use the content offline or embed the content your created on websites and blogs.

For educational purposes make sure you use the following url: http://ed.voicethread.com/

Click on the link below to learn more about voicethread!




Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Create Online eMagazines and eBooks For FREE with YUDU

http://www.yudu.com/


Use this website to upload slideshows, audio and .pdf files to create eMagazines and eBooks for free! Imagine acquiring a digital library of student created, published works. This site will allow you to embed these books on blogs also.  Here is an example:


Monday, November 16, 2009

Mobile Tools For Teaching And Learning

Check out this SlideShare Presentation: Imagine using Smartphones in the classroom!

Monday, November 9, 2009

Don't Forget About Thinkfinity!


Verizon Foundation partnered with organizations like the Smithsonian, International Reading Association, National Geographic, NCTM, just to name a few, to provide a web portal for thousands of resources for teachers and students.  Using the search engine on the home page will enable you to customize your search!  If you are interested in hosting a workshop, this district has two Thinkfinity Certified Trainers!


http://www.thinkfinity.org/

Lee y Seras: Early Reading Strategies en Espanol

Verizon and the National Council of La Raza partnered with Scholastic to create Lee y Seras, a website to empower parents to prepare their children for "reading, learning and life".  This interactive website available in English and Spanish, gives parents and community members great tools and excellent resources.  Also included, are videos, podcasts, videos, and community leader guides.



http://www.leeyseras.net/

Friday, October 30, 2009

Free Online Course! Definitely Worth Your Time!

The New Jersey Department of Education and November Learning are providing free online Web Literacy Courses made  to the first 1000 educators who register for them. These courses are designed to prepare teachers, students and parents to become Web literate. A full range of Web skills are introduced including basic search techniques, and advanced cross-referencing of Web sites to foster critical thinking and community building.
Modules in the Course include:
Internet Basics
Search Tools
Finding Information
Validating Information
Putting it All Together

Advanced WebLiteracy and Blogging for Educators courses are also available.

To learn more go to:
http://cie.kean.edu/CIE/online_web_literacy.html


Mathtrain TV- Kids Teaching Kids



Mathtrain.TV is a free educational "kids teaching kids" project from Mr. Marcos & his students at Lincoln Middle School in Santa Monica, CA.  With an interface similiar to Youtube, students and teachers view, create, and upload tutorial screencasts and videos on various math concepts.  This site even has free podcasts students can hear and download.

http://www.mathtrain.tv/index.php

Monday, October 19, 2009

JenuineTech.com - Creative Collaborative Projects for Grades Pre-K-6

Are you looking for awesome unit-based collaborative projects that foster a sense of Global Collabaration?

"Jennifer Wagner, creator of JenuineTech.com, has been succesfully encouraging teachers since 1999 to use technology seamlessly in their PreK-6 classrooms. Using the tools of the Internet (Web 2.0), Jennifer will help you understand how technology will help you make the most of your time in a variety of ways. Winning numerous awards for her creative ways in encouraging teachers to collaborate, her teaching style is very user friendly, creative, and personable. "

Thanks Sue Kreisinger!

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Free Brainpop Resources


Celebrating 10 years of awesome videos and other instuctional tools, BrainPop offers free videos on specific topics on particular days.  On BrainPop's curriculum calendar, you can view and select BrainPop Jr. , BrainPop videos and events that are available on a given day.  Moby and Tim cleverly explains a variety of historical, mathematic, and science topics that are sometimes difficult to understand.

BrainPop Educator is free to all teachers, even if you did not purchase BrainPop.  This site provides lesson plans, instructional tutorials, classrooms tools, graphic organizers,and suggestions for funding.

http://www.brainpop.com/educators/blog/curriculum-calendar-october-2009/?month=oct&yr=2009

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

One True Media: A Resource for the Remix Generation



Your remix generation will love this web 2.0 tool that will help them create innovative multimedia and video presentations.
http://www.onetruemedia.com/

Allows you insert still pictures and videos to create instant movies you can share digitally. For a nominal fee, you can create a custom DVD.

Vocab Videos to Enhance SAT Vocabulary


Are you looking for a creative way to enhance your vocabulary in preparation for the SAT? This is the website for you! Eventhough it requires a fee to use, it just might be worth it. I saw a couple of very funny videos. Your students would definitely become wordsmiths, mastering the verbal portion of any of those daunting assessments.

Friday, October 9, 2009

Looking for Grants to Create 21st Century Learning Environments? Show Us the Money!

I know as educators and technology integration specialists, we are full of ideas, desiring to acquire student achievement while thinking outside of the box. Most of the time innovation comes at a cost and we know budgets are quite slender. Grant Wrangler is a site that will connect you to grant resources and opportunities.

http://www.grantwrangler.com/

Good luck. I look forward to hearing some news about newly acquired grants!

Thursday, October 8, 2009

eMints eThemes


eMints, located in Missouri,
is a national center for professional development. All resources are created for educators by educators. It is eMint's goal to transform how teachers teach with hopes of changing how students learn. I wanted to highlight a particular feature on eMints: eThemes


eThemes is an online resource of kid-safe, content rich online materials. This vast database is free and has over 2,500 collections of websites that are categorized by themes and are searchable by grade level.


For example, I searched "New Jersey" and received at least 14 age appropriate websites for students in grades 3-5. Imagine the endless lessons ideas that sparked from these options.
Click on the picture or link in this post and select eThemes.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Gaming/Programming in Technology Integration? Yes!



Imagine having your students create games and virtual interactive activities to demonstrate their knowledge and to help others solidify their learning. This is great way to introduce students to programming. I am certain you will open a whole new world of 21st Century learning and discovery if you use these tools. You can with the following applications:




Scratch
"With Scratch, people can easily construct a wide variety of interactive projects. From community narratives to role-playing games to mathematical simulations to consciousness-raising presentations, the potential for creative production with Scratch is boundless." - Karen Brennan-

Use this site to download Scratch and view a gallery of Scratch projects.


This is the educator learning community for Scratch.
Kodu
"Gaming is a great way to inspire kids to get exposed to and to understand core skills. Kodu can help kids understand the fundamentals and principals of software development. We can make learning experiences more relevant. If we can get kids interested in gaming concepts early, then hopefully they will think about their potential career aspirations and develop skills early."-Anthony Salcito-
With Kodu, you can program games that work on XBox 360.


Kodu demonstration for schools

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/kodu/
Go here to learn more about Kodu.

Monday, August 31, 2009

Harcourt Reading/Technology Center Resources



The Kyrene School District has coordinated activities and web resources that align perfectly to each theme for grades k-6. This is a no brainer tool for your classroom computer centers. Literacy Coaches and Classroom Teachers truly need to add this to their favorites.






Monday, August 3, 2009

Edmodo- Microblogging for Educators


If you looking to microblog with your students, edmodo may be the tool for you. Similiar to Twitter, it allows you to microblog educationally. It is a secure, private social learning environment built with education in mind. In addition to microblogging, one can store and share files, post assignments, record grades, and generate class calendars.




To learn more about edmodo, go to:
http://www.edmodo.com/

http://education.zdnet.com/?p=2417

Do You i Cue?



iCue, sponsored by NBC, is an interactive learning environment that contains primary resources from NBC News Archive.

Social Studies and Language Arts curriculum comes alive when you utilize this engaging resource. One can view videos, participate in collaborative initiatives, take courses and play games on this site.

This site is best for students in grades 6-12. I especially love the acronym for iCUE:
  • i connect
  • i understand
  • i excel

Check it out for yourself!

http://www.icue.com/portal/site/iCue/welcomepage

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Just a few updates...

Hello everyone,

I know a couple of you have expressed interest in posting instructional tech resources. If you are interested in leaving comments, I have made it open to anyone. Feel free to do so, it will not appear right away because I will approve the content prior to posting it. You can use html to embed objects or format your text.

If you think you will become a frequent contributor, please contact me with your google account email address and I will add you as an author. With author privileges, you can use Rich Text Formatting to embed video, audio, pictures, etc.

I hope this clears up some confusion.

Warmest regards,

Kirstin

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Have you considered Glogster?


This great Web 2.0 tool allows students to create interactive virtual posters. Can you imagine having a multimedia project where everything was posted on one place in an asthetically pleasing manner? Learn more about Glogster by going to this website.

http://www.glogster.com/edu/

Get Published!


Looking for some neat ways to publish student work?

For Softcover or Hardcover Books:
http://www.tikatok.com/
or

http://www.blurb.com/

For Magazines try:
http://www.magcloud.com/


For a minimum cost, you can transform your student work into a keepsake that will last a lifetime.

Interactive Whiteboard Websites

http://www.topmarks.co.uk/Interactive.aspx
This British Site has some great interactive activities that span the curriculum.

http://www.scholastic.com/interactivewhiteboards/
Scholastic has done it again! It has partnered with SMART to create some greate interactive resources for PreK-12.

http://pbskids.org/whiteboard/
PBS Kids has some awesome activities for PreK-5 students.

Greetings

It is my intention to use this blog to place any cool resources I think anyone can use to enhance instruction via technology in the classroom. Feel free to post comments and suggestions on how to make this blog more useful.