CALL_IS_VSL

"The UMBC Assessment Resource Center for History offers sample assessments based on readings from six eras in U.S. history. The assessments include multiple choice question and performance tasks based on close reading exercises. The performance task assessments include scoring rubrics, sample responses from students, and the documents that students need in order to complete the performance tasks." T/H R. Byrne

This set of videos from TeachingChannel has observation exercises that would be useful for teacher-training, or self-training. There is a note-taking worksheet downloadable in the Supporting Materials, and Questions to Consider as you watch the video. This is a nice exercise, and also includes a Think Aloud activity.

A really great article by Larry Ferlazzo on how to use positive classroom management with your students. Tips include avoiding collective punishment, getting students to take responsibility for their own behavior while envisioning long-term effects, and so on.

A nice set of ideas from K. Venosdale and the Haiku Deck Team. I like applications that offer not just how-to, but the why-to as well.

www.Videonot.es requires a Google account, or use Evernote, and allows you to create notes as you watch a video online. Students can review notes, and they have become clickable, leading them back to the point in the video where they made the note originally. Works with videos from coursera, udcity, edX, Kahn Academy, and Vimeo, as well as YouTube. T/H to Russel Standard for informing us of this and creating a how-to video.

R. Stannard shows how to create flashcards in any language for this site.

Organize all your links and online resources. Collect, archive, and share in one place. The entry level tool is free. One use would be a CV online -- an easy way to build a website with links to all your goodies. Similarly, students could create tabs for all their research on a topic. Can handle images and creative uses of page real estate. See R. Stannard's training video on this tool: http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/e-portfolios-iwbs/binder.html

Pixabay was recently updated to make it easier than ever to find quality public domain images. Now when you visit the search page on Pixabay you can filter your search according to image type (photo, drawing, vector), image orientation (landscape or portrait), and image category (subject matter). T/H to R.Byrne

R. Byrne offers an overview of OTUS, a mobile learning environment to distribute assignments, quizzes, polls, readings, etc., to iPads. It can now also be used with browers on laptops and Chromebooks. The Otus YouTube channel has detailed directions for how to use the various elements of the service.

The tools R.Byrne reviews would make for excellent activities for ESL students, for studying cultural geography, and for exploring relationship within the world.

A blog with some interesting ideas on using portfolios and different kinds of portfolios.

The author gives examples of 3 different social media used by teachers to create learning: Wikipedia, blogs, and Twitter. A nice round-up of what can be done.

"ReadWorks is a great non-profit service that offers hundreds of lesson plans and more than two thousand reading non-fiction and fiction passages aligned to Common Core standards. Recently, ReadWorks added a new batch of science passages with accompanying question sets to use in high school classrooms. " This will be great material for EFL students also. T/H R. Byrne

A great Add-on for Google Spreadsheets. Find the Save As Doc Add-on and it will be attached to all your spreadsheets in Google Drive. Select rows or columns to have the text saved to your Google docs account.

"One of the Eight Essential Elements of Project Based Learning is Revision and Reflection. This important element enables learners to improve their work through the use of feedback from multiple sources - peers, teacher, and expert. "However, giving and receiving feedback from others can be tricky. It can take time, and the giver might not know how to frame his or her feedback, both in terms of content and tone. The receiver might take critical feedback personally, or be misled by feedback that is off-target in some way. "One way to avoid potential pitfalls and help ensure feedback is "kind, specific, and helpful" (to quote Ron Berger) is to use a protocol. One of our favorite feedback protocols is the Gallery Walk. The basic idea is to post pieces of work on a wall - as in an art gallery - so people can move around and look at it. In BIE's "PBL 101" workshops, teachers use this protocol to give and collect feedback on their initial ideas for a project they're designing. "

"A Complete Guide to Using Blogger In School covers everything from blogging terminology to blogging activities to the nuts and bolts of using Blogger. You'll learn where to find media to use in blog posts, how to use media in blog posts, and get ideas for media-based blog posts. You'll also learn how to set-up your blog for multiple authors and how to manage comments." T/H R. Byrne

"Create higher order questions in order to analyze and discuss a text," a 6-min video with a real 6th grade teacher.

A video how-to. Image-based quizzes are good for more advanced students as well as beginners.

Another school/pedagogy oriented site for video resources. Ideas for curriculum, advice, guides, videos of and by students as well as education professionals and parents. T/H R. Byrne

"Awesome cloud-based information management tool that enables users to collect, highlight, access and share a variety of information, on a variety of devices." Short video shows the many ways to use Diigo to archive good websites.