21st Century Literacy

Black History Month Books

2012-02-07T08:41:00.001-05:00

http://gladiatorsgarden.blogspot.com/2012/02/black-history-month-recommeded-books.html

Education Matters: Teachers aren't like bankers; why merit pay won't ...

2011-12-02T09:41:00.000-05:00

Education Matters: Teachers aren't like bankers; why merit pay won't ...

Native American Indian Month

2011-11-17T09:30:00.001-05:00

Native American History Month 2011

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What you wish you knew before you became a teacher

2011-08-09T16:06:00.002-04:00

What you wish you knew before you became a teacher

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Educators' Top Ten Apps

2011-03-25T13:51:00.021-04:00

Mobile technology can transform education. The students are now welded to their cellphones, iPods, iPod Touch, iPads, Nooks, videoplayers and netbooks. These devices will only give birth to newer, faster mobile technology. So why not embrace what is available today and use it in teaching? The following apps are the ten best voted on by educators nationwide in 2011 as useful tools in teaching k-12.

Arithmaroo Makes counting easier for elementary kids using number patterns and relationships. Arithmaroo includes many elements, similar to classroom manipulatives, that assists children in visualizing and interacting with numbers using multimedia. There are four levels of difficulty and the app aligns to national math standards. (iPhone, iPod Touch; $1.99 download)

Bento Multitasking educators can stay organized, update documents, and keep all their key data in a single location with Filemaker's Bento. Users can carry and edit their Bento database from their mobile device, which easily syncs back to their MAC desktop, to update changes from anywhere they happen to be. Managing and tracking projects, contacts, meetings, lists and more is made easy through 25 built-in templates. (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch: $4.99 dowmload)

Dropbox Offering free, secure file storage and sharing, along with automatic syncing across multiple computers from any location, Dropbox is another time-and-energy-saving educator tool. It offers a selection of teacher-friendly controls, such as the ability to set bandwidth limits, eliminate users from individual computers and create shareable photo galleries. Dropbox is available for a broad range of devices, as well as, desktops and laptops. (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Android, Blackberry, Linux; free download)

Flip It!  This doodling animation tool brings drawings to life with a flip-book effect. Named by iTunes as "the most popular animation app" in the App Store, Flip It! reaches students through visual reinforcement of concepts. Activities such as animating a book character, illustrating plant growth over time, or designing a machine and putting it into motion, engage and challenge students' abilities in numerous subject areas. (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad; $1.99 download, try Flip It Lite free).

Motion Math   Motion Math was named runner-up in both the "Most Innovative Product/Service" and "Most Likely to Succeed in the Education Market" categories in conjunction with the Software & Information Industry Association's 2010 Innovation Incubation awards program.

The software turns a handheld device into what Motion Math's developers call a "virtual manipulative", providing studnts with a physical, game-based interaction with math to help them crack the mystifying world of fractions. Players try to shoot a bouncing ball containing a fraction onto the right spot on the number line. The activity emphasizes recognition of fractions in their various representations, such as percents, decimals, pie charts, and numerator over denominator. Visuals, sound effects and escalating levels of difficulty keep learners motivated and practicing. (iPhone, iPad, iPad Touch; $0.99 download).

Poll Everywhere The developers of this app make aplea to users to "stop paying for expensive technicians, passing out clickers....and lugging around bags full of keypads."

Poll Everywhere takes anew approach to classroom response systems by harnessing existing web and mobile phone tehcnology and relying on text messaging rather than proprietary hardware and clickers for responses. Functions of the service include the ability for students to respond with typed-in text rather than just multiple-choice answers. Teachers can gather data from students at home or in other locations off campus. For schools that employ social networking tools, Poll Everywhere also offers poll integration with Twitter. (Cell phone, BlackBerry, iPhone; free for k-12 classes of 32 or less).

Proloque2Go Assistive Ware's Proloque2Go turns a mobile device into a "communication board" that offers students with speech problems a way of voicing their needs. The main menu uses symbols and words to identify functions that let users build basic messages, such as "Hi" and "Bye", "I want," and "I need." Mesaages can be spoken with a text-to-voice application or sent out via the message window. Included are high-resolution symbols, more than 7,000 vocabulary items, and automatic conjunctions. (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch; $189.99)

Receptive Identification   From Kindergarten.com, this app offers more support to autistic children by helping them learn vocabulary, understand basic instructions, and practice positive listening behaviors. Game activites may include instructions to "touch the gummy worm" or "find the hot-air balloon." Eighty-five colorful images and audio are included with each game. (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad; $0.99 per game)

Video Physics Vernier has created an app that allows users to tap into the power of the company's Logger Pro desktop data-collection software for in-the-field studies. Students or teachers can videotape objects in motion, mark their positions frame by frame, and set up a scale using known distance. The software then graphs trajectory, position and velocity, and students can e-mail the video and data back to Logger Pro for further analysis - right from their mobile device.

Users can also share graphs and videos on Facebook or save them in their personal digital libraries, and educators don't need to worry about downloading videos or having students bring cameras to school. (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad; $1.99 download)

Wofram Alpha This answer engine, billed by its developers as a "palm-sized supercomputer," lets users type in queries to learn basic information, such as a state's average rainfall, or more complex content, such as the molecular structure of compounds that make up hydrogen. Responses are given in both text and relevant visual forms, such as charts and graphs. Currently, the product contains more that 10 trillion pieces of data and 50,000-plus algorithms and models.

An example of how to broaden student learning using Wolfram Apha as a tool: students that are struggling with understanding a concept, such as 'democracy', they can type in the word and be presented with an answer in multidisciplinary form: a definition, word origin, synonyms and narrower terms of its use that help deepen understanding. (iPad, iPod Touch; $1.99 download)

Adventures in Ed Tech

2011-03-23T10:50:00.004-04:00

"Adventures in Ed Tech" is a great blog that explores and demonstrates how to apply free technology from the Internet into the classroom. Follow the link (click on the title of this post) and have fun applying YouTube and Google apps into the teaching process!

Women's History Resources

2011-03-22T11:02:00.001-04:00

Women's history secondary resources march 2011[1]

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Black History Resources

2011-03-22T11:01:00.001-04:00

Black history online reference resources secondary

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A Public School Teacher’s Manifesto

2011-03-09T11:09:00.000-05:00

A Public School Teacher’s Manifesto

Celebrate Literacy with Graphic Novels!

2011-01-19T08:55:00.001-05:00

Celebrate graphic novels

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Celebrate Literacy Week 2011

2011-01-19T08:54:00.001-05:00

25850 celebrate literacy_week_activities_2011

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Online Sources for Primary Sources

2010-08-31T13:06:00.007-04:00

According to ODLIS or The Online Dictionary for Library and Information Sources, a "primary source" is defined as:

"...a document or record containing firsthand information or original data on a topic, used in preparing a derivative work. Primary sources include original manuscripts, periodical articles reporting original research or thought, diaries, memoirs, letters, journals, photographs, drawings, posters, film footage, sheet music, songs, interviews, government documents, public records, eyewitness accounts, newspaper clippings, etc. Terry Abraham of the University of Idaho provides an online list of Repositories of Primary Sources. The History Section of the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) within the American Library Association (ALA) provides a guide to Using Primary Sources on the Web. "

I have found five authoritative online primary source websites that offer a wealth of primary sources at your fingertips. These are "The Big Five":

The National Archives
Smithsonian Institution
Library of Congress
F.R.E.E.
Teaching History

"The Big Five" listed above, include pages written especially for teachers, as well as for parents, students, librarians and other groups. If the institutional homepage seems too large in scope, just find the specialized pages of interest and click away!

Notice how all of these huge, institutional collections offer a variety of ways to keep up to date on newly added primary sources and teacher resources. All include RSS feeds and a regular teacher e-newsletter worth signing up for. Sharing discoveries from these sites is possible via social bookmarking, such as Facebook, Delicious, Diigo, Youtube and more.

Take time to explore "The Big Five" and organize your primary source treasures. Then you can invite your colleagues to begin implementing effective lessons using primary sources!

Florida Teen Reads 2010

2010-08-09T19:14:00.001-04:00

video at Animoto!

Websites for 21st-Century Learning

2010-04-27T12:28:00.003-04:00

The three literacies for the 21st Century are:

Information literacy
ICT literacy
Media literacy.

Information literacy is perhaps the best known of the three literacies and is activley promoted by school librarians and teachers. The following websites provide links to some of the best.

Project Information Literacy
ACRL Information Literacy
American Association of School Librarians (Information Literacy)
TRAILS: Tools for Real-time Assessment of Information Literacy Skills

ICT Literacy is a fast growing international movement promoting information and communication technologies (ICT) digital literacy.

ICT Literacy
ICT Literacy Maps
Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Research
National Education Technology Standards (NETS)
NCTL: The National Center for Technological Literacy

Media literacy is the ability to sift through and analyze the messages that inform, entertain and sell to us every day. It's the ability to bring critical thinking skills to bear on all media— from music videos and Web environments to product placement in films and virtual displays on NHL hockey boards. Sometimes, media distorts the message so it is important to help children and young adults learn how to become more media literate.

Media Literacy Clearinghouse
Arthur's Guide to Media Literacy
Center for Media Literacy
Media Awareness Network
Media Education Foundation
Media Literacy Week
National Association for Media Literacy Education
The News Literacy Project
Teacher Guides by Subject: Media Literacy
AdBusters Spoof Ads

A sixth sense

2010-04-07T16:13:00.001-04:00

25 Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom

2009-07-23T23:27:00.001-04:00

Blogs In Education2+

2009-06-17T23:41:00.001-04:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Blogs In Education2+

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2009-06-12T17:24:00.002-04:00

Pay Attention - Final Final Cut

Free Online Audio Books

2008-11-13T17:48:00.016-05:00

I have recently stumbled on a variety of websites that enables one to download audio books for free! These are books that are in the public domain, therefore copyright issues are moot. Users download the audio books in MP3 format and listen to them on their computer or copy them onto an MP3 player or burn them to CDs. Because the books are in the public domain, users may listen to them as many times as they want and share them with others. If your students have access to MP3 players, providing them with audio books is a great way to encourage their appreciation for some fantastic literature.

LibriVox is a teacher's dream -- a fun tool to encourage the reluctant reader or inspire your already-addicted ones to explore even more great literature. You'll find Aesop's Fables and the works of Shakespeare, James Joyce, and Rudyard Kipling -- the list goes on and on. How about some Edgar Allan Poe to listen to on the way home from school each evening?

The Screen Actors Guild Foundation has made Storyline Online available for children. The childrens' books are read with or without captions which helps students develop fluency. The books' illustrations are used in conjunction with the actors shown reading.

Other wonderful, free sites include:

Podiobooks, free serialized audio books delivered on your schedule.

Project Gutenberg Online Book Catalog, with over 25,000 free titles including print, audio, music, digitized sheet music, photos and video clips. This site gives you a variety of download formats to view or play in iTunes, Palm organizers and smartphones, mp3 players and personal computers.

Lit2Go is a free online collection of stories and poems in MP3 format. It is hosted by Florida's Educational Technology Clearinghouse and also gives options as to how to view and/or listen to the stories and poems.

Simply audio books provides 8,000 downloadable titles and a fee-based service if you go beyond that. At the Internet Archive is the
Audio Books and Poetry section where you will find many files and links to books in the public domain. One such link is the Globe Radio Repertory, which houses radio productions dating back to the early 1980s, bringing Don Quixote, Madame Bovary, Flaubert, and stories by Checkhov.

LoudLit.org has plenty of public domain books and many are in audio form. You have the option of downloading just the .mp3 audio or listening to the reading on a Web page that also contains text, perfect for struggling readers needing audio support.

Looking for newer content than the classics?
OpenCulture has an entire selection dedicated to free audio book offerings, sometimes including more recent publications. OpenCulture also has a page with a huge compilation of links for
free book downloads, again offering the classics.

Audible and LearnOutLoud.com offer some free content alongside their priced offerings. On Audible, you have to hunt for the free files, but here's a direct link to free books on LearnOutLoud.com.

Therefore when assigning the classics to students, make sure you offer the option of audio books. Your students who need extra support with the text will thank you and you'll fill up their iPods with great literature.

Wikis vs. Blogs: Powerpoint Presentation

2008-10-29T18:34:00.002-04:00

2008-10-15T13:43:00.004-04:00

Edublogs hosts hundreds of thousands of blogs for teachers, students, researchers, professors, librarians, administrators and anyone and everyone else involved in education.

Edublogs are completely free, without any advertising, and come with 100MB of free upload space (easily extended to 3 Gig) and a heap of great features.

Edublogs also caters to schools and universities looking to create, manage and control blogs at their own domain, with all the features of Edublogs. It is called Edublogs Campus.

So sign up for a free Edublog or get in touch with them to talk about Edublogs Campus.

Hispanic Heritage Teaching Resources

2008-10-14T13:56:00.004-04:00

A wonderful collection of free online resources from Smithsonian Education. The "For Educators" section include links to Field Trips, Lesson Plans, Resource Library, and Educational Services. A one-stop website for special monthly events, this site includes resources for Black History, Women's History, Asian Pacific Americans and American Indian Heritage.

Banned Books Week: September 27–October 4, 2008

2008-09-30T17:05:00.002-04:00

Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read is observed during the last week of September each year. Observed since 1982, this annual American Library Association event reminds Americans not to take this precious democratic freedom for granted. This year, 2008, marks BBW's 27th anniversary (September 27 through October 4).

Create your own avatar character

2008-09-29T16:18:00.007-04:00

Get a Voki now!

A free website that enables one to create avatars or characters representing themselves in the virtual world. These can then be imbedded into a plethora of applications. For example, using Microsoft's PhotoStory (see link in Resources), a free application from Microsoft, students can create a visual and audio story using photos or videos. Their avatar can be imbedded as the author and published to the web in a wiki or blog. As a teacher, you would not have to worry about student identity waivers from parents. Your imagination and creativity can be limitless and students would probably lead the way! NOTE: Unfortunately my district blocks this site, so you will need to view this posting and the Voki link from home or other unblocked site.

The Wired Campus

2008-09-14T13:42:00.003-04:00

This is a professional online newspaper/journal with education-technology news from around the Web. Content includes scholarly articles on education-technology as well as video links to "Wired Campus TV", search engine for site, discussion forums, careers, multimedia, Chronicle/Gallup, Leadership Forum, Technology Forum, Resource Center, Campus Viewpoints and Services.

"The Wired Campus" is affiliated with "The Chronicle of Higher Education" which is the No. 1 source of news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty members and administrators.

Based in Washington, D.C., The Chronicle has more than 70 full-time writers and editors, as well as 17 foreign correspondents positioned around the world.

Online, The Chronicle is published every weekday and is the top destination for news, advice, and jobs for people in academe. The Chronicle's Web site features the complete contents of the latest issue; daily news and advice columns; thousands of current job listings; articles published since September 1989; vibrant discussion forums; and career-building tools such as online CV management, salary databases, and more.