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Ok – that’s obvious – my favorite things also happen to include the song from Sound of Music.

I also love chocolate, soft cotton t-shirts, cuddling with my kids, holding hands with my husband, and learning new things. Over the last year or so there has been an explosion of web 2.0 tools to learn about. On twitter, there was a question about what were my favorite ones that I just couldn’t live without. So, after humming for a little while about doorbells, and sleighbells and schneitzel with noodles.…here are my favorites:

1. Google Earth has to be one of the best tools out there that I can think of. There are so many ways this application can be utilized for just about any class and learner. There are also many, many resources out there showing you the golden brick road to best useage of Google Earth.

• Google Earth 101 for Educators – Teacher Hacks

• Google Earth Lessons

• Google Lit Trips

2. VoiceThread is probably going to be on a lot of people’s lists – also for its flexibility across many curriculums and forums. I already blogged about this site here.

3. My third pick (this list not in any particular order, just someone had to be third…) would have to be Primary Source Learning. This site is set up in conjunction with the Library of Congress (which by the way is debuting a new resource of its own very soon here.) Anyway, Primary Source Learning is a site that shows teachers how to integrate primary historical documents into their classroom for everyday lessons. It strives to teach students connections between then, now, and the future. Lessons are there along with whatever printables are needed as well as field test reports from real live teachers who have used these lessons in their classrooms. Lessons also have links to how to differentiate the content, processes and products for each experience. What an amazing resource!

So – there you go – my favorite three…..for today. Who knows what’ll come along tomorrow?

LearnOutLoud has an incredible library of podcasts and audio files free for the taking. The podcasts range from Aesop’s Fables to Greek Mythology to Ralph Waldo Emerson essays and Great Speeches in History. The podcasts can either be downloaded and listened in your leisure or streamed and listened to immediately. The only software you need is a program to listen to mp3 files. You can use Quicktime, Windows Music Player, or any other program that plays sound files with the mp3 extension. These are both free downloads and usually come already installed on many systems.

How much more alive would your class be if your students could actually hear Richard Nixon giving his resignation speech? Make history authentic with audio files of stories of slavery. How about bringing to your science class the latest in nanotechnology? The reading of The Road Less Traveled could encourage your students to enjoy further readings of Robert Frost’s works. Looking for something in the foreign languages genre? How about a daily Mandarin Chinese lesson podcast for your learning pleasure?

There are also video and audio files that are fee based. The Great Gatsby is only $4.99! Prices range anywhere from $1 to $25 depending on the download and whether you want CDs ordered with it or not.

This resource is an incredible one – not just for those reluctant readers we all have in our classes – but also for the enjoyment of hearing the spoken word as these wonderful files will prove, over and over again. Have students actually choose to listen these files as part of completing projects, reviewing for tests, or previewing for upcoming units of study. These files can be downloaded, burned to a CD or synced to a portable music player (iPod, Zune, mp3 player, etc) and played again and again.

Thanks to a link from Cool Cat Teacher – I’ve been exploring a wiki dedicated to Dr. Marzano’s Classroom Instruction that Works.

My school system is one that a few years ago adopted this resource and every teacher was provided a copy of his Handbook for Classroom Instruction that Works. We all participated in several days of in-service as well as on-going staff development sessions through-out the year.
Dr. Marzano has now put together a wiki designed as a portal for Web 2.0 resources which specifically target one or more of his instructional strategies. These strategies, as outlined in his books and the wiki are:

1) Identifying Similarities & Differences

2) Summarizing and note taking

3) Reinforcing effort and providing recognition

4) Homework and practice

5) Representaing knowledge

6) Learning groups

7) Setting objectives and providing feedback

Generating and testing hypotheses

9) Cues, questions, and advance organizers

On the wiki page labeled, web 2.0 tools, there is a marvelous chart where all the tools and resources that have been added to the site are arranged and then check-marked as to which strategy they address. Many of these tools are ones that several of us already use, but sometimes it’s nice to have verification that what we may already be doing is on the right track according to The Power That Be. Be that as it may, there are quite a few new items that I will be seriously checking out.

This site is obviously new and a work in progress. You don’t have to join it to utilize the resources, but if you wish to add something you use then you need to sign up to join the wiki. Check back with it often to see what new!

This is a site in progress but here are its first efforts to have some great applications for almost any classroom in today’s world. The link on the left side under Find what works for English Language Learners takes you to some techniques and information that you can use not only for ELL/ESL students, but students with reading difficulties or low achievement/motivation students. These activities and suggestions can be used across the grade levels and curriculum with just a little bit of thought and planning.

This site also has a subscription link so you can be notified when they make updates to this site. I am looking forward to added content for cognition & learning as well as for math & science.

It is incumbent upon us to keep current with best practices so that not only will we reach the goals set for us by the Federal Government, but so that we can also do what’s right by our students.

Ok – don’t let the “podcast” part of that scare you off. The website 60-Second Science is just chocked full of science tidbits and the podcast is only one part of it. You can also find archives of past podcasts here. The postings are written for down to earth people to read and comprehend the extremely intelligent part of science. This is great for teachers who rarely have the time to distill the “science-ese” out of publications and interpret for their classrooms. Of all the curriculums, science is the most dynamic and often times the most difficult to stay current with.

The podcast part of the site is found in the middle of the screen, right at the top. You can subscribe to it using iTunes to keep updated when new podcasts are posted – or you can just click on “play” and just listen through your browser. This would be a wonderful way to start a class – to hook the kids right in with something that is current and relevent to them – and not just in science classes either.

[slideshare id=286905&doc=technology-driven-differentiated-instruction-1204295745836703-2&w=425]

Differentiated instruction is the best way to ensure students of all levels are reached. Differentiation of process, content, and product allows for great flexibility on the part of the teacher to exercise their creativity. Students are given choices with their learning and how they demonstrate mastery of the material. One of the greatest gifts we can give our students is the ability to choose and learn how to make good decisions on the part of their education.

The above slide show (be sure to come over to the blog site if your reader stripped the slide show) was created by CoolCatTeacher for one of her presentations at a convention. This slide show shows how technology can seamlessly differentiate for us according to Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences. She has done a fantastic job with this presentation.

Whether you are feeling creative or just want to play around – TerraClues can scratch both itches. An excellent site which will allow you to either play the searches already created or create your own. Students will enjoy having a way to show off their creativity and geography skills in a method that will impress each other and you.

Have the kids create their own searches and then pop them up on a SmartBoard to have class wide reviews and competitions.

I’m actually pointing you to another blog today, but the post that I want you to read is very powerful. It’s something that if you are reading blogs already, it probably doesn’t apply to you – but we all have colleagues that would fit the description of “technologically illiterate” perfectly.

I want you to read that post and consider sharing it with your faculty and peers to use it as a discussion starter. Don’t use it in an accusatory, finger-pointing sort of way. Just start some dialog and see where it goes.

“Is it okay to be a technologically illiterate teacher?”

If you would like another post to read and use a video to begin conversations in your school, check out the “Did you know 2.0? – shift happens” presentation. The actual video is a fairly long download, so make sure you have it saved before you need it and don’t try to stream it. They have a wiki set up to continue discussions online with your global peers.

Shift Happens wiki

Once you have some good talks with your peers, direct them to these blogs & wikis (mine included of course!) and set them free to begin their own technological journey.

Ok – while this resource isn’t completely free – the school or school system pays for it so it’s not coming out of the individual teacher’s pocket which is good too.

Unitedstreaming is a division of the Discovery Channel and this website provides thousands of videos and resources for educators across all grades and curriculum. There is a 30-day free trial so if your school doesn’t have this marvelous resource, you can check it out for a few weeks, show off how awesome it is, and beg for the system to pay for a subscription.

Need a video for ecosystems? Dozens of videos with Jeff Corwin starring pop up, begging to be downloaded. Teaching algebra and need a short take on the history of math? There’s a good video that explains who the father of algebra was (do you know?). Looking for lessons to reinforce the school’s stance on bullying or sexual harassment? Unitedstreaming has up-to-date, age-appropriate videos on those sensitive topics too. Spanish speaking students? Many videos also come with spanish translations that can be downloaded separately. Close-captioning is optional on almost all the videos.

Another good tool is that you can download only part of the videos if you want. If the entire movie is 50 minutes and you know the kids would probably be snoozing by then, just download the 10 minute segment that really hits home the concept. Segments are listed by title and length of segment.

Extra resources are also available to the videos. Most have state objectives/standards correlated to the video. Oftentimes there is also available for download teacher guides which contain the script from the video and blackline masters which have various activities to complete before and/or after viewing of the video.

What else is there you say? Well….Unitedstreaming also makes available the ability to create assignment and quizzes based on these videos. The teacher creates and saves the activity, linking it to a particular video and is given an activation code. This code is then given to the student who enters it at the Unitedstreaming homepage and then completes the assignment. Once finished, the assignment/quiz is emailed to the teacher automatically without the student ever being given your contact information.

Tip #1: If you make an assignment/quiz for students to complete outside of class, make sure they have access to high-speed internet. Dial-up internet connectivity will not be fast enough for them to view the video anytime this century.

Tip #2: To gain even more benefit from this resource, consider joining their on-line community of Discovery Educator Network. This opens up even more options in terms of lessons and activities made by educators as well as networking with other DEN members in your area and across the country.

ps – Al-Khwarizmi is named as the father of algebra in the video.

More and more school systems are using Grade Quick for their electronic gradebook and also subscribing to the online side EdLine. I have facilitated my high school’s EdLine page for several years and found it to be extremely user-friendly and an excellent communication device with parents.

However, not every teacher realizes that they can do more than just post grades to it. I’ve attached to this posting my directions to managing the News and Calendar sections and another write-up on how to upload documents such as lesson plans to EdLine.

These directions are very detailed and shouldn’t give you too many headaches in following them. There are even screenshots through-out them! Feel free to print out and use these – but please leave my name on them for credit. Thanks!

Beyond logging in to EdLine

UPloading directions for Word documents